Rula Lenska on Hearing Loss and Rovers Return

Coronation Street’s Rula Lenska has spoken on television about her hearing loss, which she only revealed publicly a few days ago to the press.

Lenska, who plays hairdresser Claudia Colby in ITV Granada’s flagship serial, spoke on The Alan Titchmarsh Show about her hearing difficulty as part of promoting The Sound Barrier Star Awards that are overseen by Specsavers who operate hearing centres.

She told Alan, “It’s sad isn’t it that you feel scared to admitting it because you think people are going to judge you for it.” However the 63-year-old added that the hearing loss hadn’t affected being offered work thus far.

“One in seven people have hearing loss, and when do they ever go to get their ears checked. We all get our eyes checked, but we’re never told to get our ears checked and its not until you start losing your hearing that you realise how hard it is when you can’t hear everything you used to.” she added

Rula also famous for roles in dramas Rock Follies, Robin of Sherwood and Minder, sci-fi series Space 1999 and Doctor Who and soaps EastEnders and Coronation Street which she joined last year.

She went onto discuss how long her hearing had been in decline, “It began to be a problem about six or seven years ago… …and it’s a bit of a mystery as neither of my parents had any hearing loss and it doesn’t appear to be following the normal pattern of age related hearing loss.”

She suggested that it may be related to diving in her youth and loud music.

Lenska also dismissed on the chat show the Corrie gossip that she was to take over as landlady of the iconic Rovers Return Inn.