This week, until Sunday (May 25), is Deaf Awareness Week.

I know only too well from my own experiences that hearing loss can bring many practical and emotional challenges to one’s life.

I also know how helpful it is to learn from others and to know that one is not alone.

Hearing loss embraces a whole spectrum of difficulty. The use of sign language by and for people with profound hearing loss is well understood.

However, the needs of people with impaired (but residual) hearing are often overlooked, especially as this is very much a “hidden” disability.

There are likely to be many people in our community who are affected by hearing loss. Many of these people are quite coy about their difficulties.

Technical devices such as hearing aids (and they are now becoming very good), induction loops and infra-red systems can improve the lives of hearing-impaired people enormously.

Unfortunately, many people, including those with hearing problems themselves, don’t understand how liberating these aids can be, and we should campaign for them.

Getting involved in lifting the isolation often experienced by hearing-impaired people can help us all.

There is a hearing loss charity called Hearing Link, based in Eastbourne.

I am keen to encourage other readers to help Hearing Link by supporting its Deaf Awareness Week activities.

Its website is www.hearing link.org/deaf-awareness-week. Alternatively, its helpdesk can be contacted by emailing helpdesk@hearinglink.org.

Of course, there are other charities and organisations out there too and this week means they can join forces to raise awareness of hearing loss in an effort to generate greater understanding of the challenges faced by so many people.

Please show your support.

Colin Bennett, Landsdowne Place, Hove