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There was something familiar about her, and halfway through the conversation I found out what it was...

She suddenly noticed my hearing aids and exclaimed: 鈥淥h! You鈥檙e deaf too!鈥�. For the next ten minutes, all talk of meter readings and kilowatt hours went out of the window.

All she wanted to know was how long my partner and I had been wearing hearing devices, how well we could lip-read and whether the NHS might pay for some in-the-ear devices for her 鈥� something more discreet.

Although she'd been deaf since birth, she hadn鈥檛 worn amplifying gear for years. This despite working in a busy office, speaking to people every day for her job, and living in a hearing family who she told us: "Hear really well, so it's hard for them when I miss what they're saying."

After a lot of deaf-related chat, we got back to energy prices, and through deaf loyalty 鈥� and admittedly, the hope of saving 10% on our energy bills - we signed up 鈥� watching her phone through our details to her call centre as if she鈥檇 learned every part of the process by heart. She explained she found it difficult to hear anything on the phone.

I was impressed by how she managed to get by. But her reluctance to wear hearing aids made me wonder whether - as a proud wearer my whole life 鈥� I might simply be oblivious to what the general public really think of deafness.

The saleswoman was just one of a number of people I鈥檝e found out about who are deaf, live in a hearing world (communicating through speech, rather than sign language), yet refuse to wear hearing aids.

This week I received an email from a hearing aid wearer who told me about bullying he faced from his colleagues that was so severe, he stopped wearing them for six years. He described feeling ashamed and fearful about wearing them.

Last month, I met a hearing woman who told me affectionately about her deaf grandfather. She explained that he often spoke loudly, used a lot of gesture (but not sign) and constantly missed everything people said around him. He also refused to wear a hearing device.

It's this latter story that seems most common. I hear versions of it all the time from people when they find out about my deafness. "Oh you鈥檙e deaf? My uncle was deaf!". When I ask "Did he wear hearing aids?", nine times out of ten they reply: "No, he wouldn鈥檛 wear them."

The portrayal of their relative often goes on to illustrate them as someone who seems to be living in a different world to the rest of the family, whether grumpy, quiet, or even wildly eccentric, traits surely (in my point of view at least) exacerbated by trying to live as a hearing person, when they are deaf.

While I'm positive about wearing an aid, it hasn't always been fun. At school, I remember walking down the corridor and hearing other students (bullies is a better word) whistling behind me, mimicking the sound of the piercing feedback my equipment sometimes made. I occasionally got some verbal abuse, linked to my hearing aids, but I can鈥檛 remember (and probably didn鈥檛 quite hear) exactly what these jibes were.

Although the devices had other downsides (being terrible at dealing with classroom background noise for example), I was committed to wearing them and making the best of their imperfections. Perhaps it helped that I鈥檇 worn them since I was too young to think about what other people thought.

My view is that people who refuse to wear hearing devices must be trying to avoid a stigma that they feel society has about deafness. Do they think society views deaf people as a bit stupid, thick, or dumb, simply because we sometimes mishear or don't understand what people are saying? Or is it a view that deafness is associated with old age, and being a bit past it?

Whatever it is that people are trying to avoid, the irony is that by refusing to wear hearing aids, and acting as if they are not deaf at all, they might inadvertently be making this view even worse by grinning and bearing it.

I'm not just concerned about the simple act of putting a hearing aid on. I'm also concerned that people avoid being open about being deaf.

If deaf, hard of hearing, deafened or hearing impaired people are embarrassed about wearing hearing aids, they're more likely to hide their deafness in other ways, deciding not to ask someone to repeat themselves, or admit to someone 鈥淚鈥檓 deaf, could you speak a bit more clearly and loudly?鈥�.

Of course it鈥檚 not only hearing aids that people are afraid of being seen to wear. When JK Rowling invented Harry Potter, she was credited with making glasses more acceptable and cool among school children. So here鈥檚 hoping that when she鈥檚 done with the Potter franchise, she invents a child wizard who happens to wear hearing aids so we can all get over it, and feel fashionable and cool for a while.