It happens all the time. One of the older members of the household is getting a bit deaf and needs the TV sound turned well up. But then it is too loud for everyone else. It’s worse at night when people go to bed but one family member wants to watch the late-night movie – or whatever.

The problem can be even worse if you have a hearing aid because it also tends to pick up extraneous noises – coughs, heater fans, a radio in another room, toilets flushing, planes flying overhead, cars and trucks passing in the street and people washing up the dishes, to list just a few irritations.

The real answer is to listen via headphones – preferably good "surround your ears" muff-type headphones which not only deliver the wanted sounds directly to your ears and hearing aid(s) but also cut back the competing sounds at the same time. And if you pick the right kind of headphones with some acoustic damping in the earmuffs, they don’t cause your hearing aid(s) to feed back and whistle either.

The result is comfortable listening at a volume level that’s right for you, where you can hear and understand everything that’s being said.