The gentleman was visiting the doctor and he mentioned that he thought his wife was losing her hearing.

The doctor said that he'd schedule her for a hearing test, but in the meantime, he told the man that it would be good to get an idea of the extent of the loss to help guide the examiners.

The gentleman asked how to do that, and the doctor told him to talk in a normal tone to his wife from about 40 ft. away and see if she was able to hear him.  If not, move about ten feet closer and try again.  Do this until she is able to hear.

A couple of days later the man was in the living room and his wife was in the kitchen.  He thought that this would be a good opportunity to test her hearing.  He figured he was about 40 feet away and he said in a normal tone, "hey hon, what's for dinner?"  Hearing nothing, he moved closer and from the near side of the living room, he asked again, "hey hon, what's for dinner?"  Still nothing.

He then moved into the dining room and from about 20 feet away, asked, "hey hon, what's for dinner?"

Still nothing.  So he moved into the kitchen and said quietly, "hey hon, what's for dinner?"

With that, his wife turned around and said,  "For the FOURTH TIME!!! WE'RE HAVING CHICKEN!"