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.