Say It Once, See it Twice

Only a week or so ago Mary and I were talking about this very thing in regard to a couple of older people we know and this morning what should I read in Charles Moore's column in The Spectator:

It is well known that old people have a different attitude to the telephone than the young. This is partly because they were brought up in an era when each call was very expensive and the Bakelite instrument stood upright and solid, in a cold and public bit of the house. There was no incentive to chat. What is less easy to explain is the fact that so many old people put the phone down without saying goodbye. When younger people do this they are being deliberately rude. But I notice that many of the most courteous old people -- the late Bill Deedes was an example -- have this habit. What is the reason?

No idea. But we did notice that both of the old people we were thinking of are quite deaf. Could it be related?