Bring on the dawn chorus! 'Ear binoculars' help Urban Birder David Lindo meet challenge of hearing loss

David Lindo - hearing damaged by childhood Mumps

                                                       

A TALK by David Lindo at this weekend's Global Birdfair should be of great interest.

Since he was a boy, David - also known as The Urban Birder - has been subject to severe hearing loss in his left  ear.

This was a complication of Mumps, quite common as a temporary side effect but only rare as a condition that becomes permanent if the auditory nerve is weakened.

At school, he sat at the front of the class so he could better hear the teachers but something of a stigma with his schoolmates.

As an adult, deafness in one ear has also occasionally caused him social embarrassment.

And, while birding, he was formerly unable to hear in stereo the full richness of the dawn chorus. 

The high-pitched or squeaky calls and songs of such species as goldcrest, treecreeper, grasshopper warbler and goldcrest have often proved particularly problematical. 

Recently he has taken to using a hearing aid which he describes as his 'ear binoculars'.

David is due to discuss his audio-challenges and how he has addressed them in a talk on the Osprey stage at 10am on Saturday.