Street soap star Roache reveals hearing problems

The veteran actor, who plays Weatherfield stalwart Ken Barlow, is 50 per cent deaf in both ears and must be given visual cues on the cobbles of The Street.

He said: "People don't know I have got a hearing problem. Deafness is extremely isolating. I live in a cocooned world.

"I could be having a normal conversation and certain things I just won't hear. I can't hear watches or alarms, footsteps or the rustling of paper. The floor manager has to give me a visual cue, a hand signal, and it is just something that I have learned to live with. I have put up with it all these years."

Roache, 77, said he often has to walk away from conversations because he cannot hear.

"That is where the isolation can creep in, you tend to not want to be in big groups.

Roache's hearing loss dates back to a training exercise which went badly wrong when he was a young officer in the Army.

He is fronting The Sound Barrier Star Awards, which recognise achievements in people who are hard of hearing.

The actor has always refused to wear a hearing aid but was delighted with the results after being fitted with a new digital device.