A man visits his doctor to ask for help with his wife.
“Doctor” he says, “I think my wife is going deaf but she will not come to see you about it. Every time I try to talk to her about it, she just goes all quite”.
“Well” says the Doctor, “I can always come to your house to see her but I would like you to do something for me first so that I can assess how deaf she is. When you go home tonight, I want you to enter the house very quietly and find the room that you wife is in. I want you to stand by the door of the room and say, in a normal voice, “what’s for dinner tonight darling”, and see if she responds. If she doesn’t, take a step into the room and say it again. If she still does not respond, do it again, and so on. When she does respond, I want you to make a note of the distance you were standing from her so that you can tell me tomorrow night.
The man thanks the doctor and goes home.
He enters the house quietly and can hear his wife in the kitchen. He finally stands by the kitchen door and sees his wife washing the dishes with her back to him. He grabs his chance and asks “What’s for dinner tonight darling”.
Nothing!
He takes a step into the room and asks again!
Nothing
Another step and “What’s for dinner tonight darling”.
Nothing
One more step and he says again “What’s for dinner tonight darling”.
His wife spins around very fast and shouts out to his face, “I’ve told you three times now you deaf sod”