An elderly man feared his wife wasn’t hearing as well as she used to and he 

thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he 

called the family Doctor to discuss the problem. The Doctor told him there is a 

simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea 

about her hearing loss. “Here’s what you do,” said the Doctor, “Stand about 40 

feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she 

hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a 

response.” That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was 

in the den. He says to himself, “I’m about 40 feet away, let’s see what 

happens.” then in a normal tone he asks, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” No 

response. So the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from

 his wife and repeats, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Still no response. Next he 

moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, 

“Honey, what’s for dinner?” Again he gets no response, So; He walks up to 

the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Again there 

is no response. So he walks right up behind her and asked,… “Honey, what’s 

for dinner?”
 * *
 * * * 
* * * *
 * * * * “James, for the FIFTH time, I’ve said, CHICKEN!,…” Said the wife.