From the Durham Evening News , March 15 1998

 

 

DEAF WOMAN HEARS AGAIN

 

Margaret Stanley (72) of Brandon became worried when she started hearing crackling sounds in her right ear. She had become profoundly deaf in her mid sixties and, despite frequent pleas from her family had never seen a hearing specialist.

 

She began hearing her first sounds for seven years whilst on holiday with her husband, George (74), in South Africa.

On her return to the UK the noise had got so loud she finally had to seek help.

 

Her doctor was amazed when, on examing her ear canal, he extracted a centimeter long, and rather plump, grub. Analysis showed the grub to be of the species 'vespa vokseum', a parasitic wasp normally found in the hives of bees.

 

"The grub had eaten through a solid plug of wax in Mrs.Stanley's ear and was beginning to form it's coccoon.", the doctor reported, "After I had syringed both ears, her hearing was back to normal."