A reporter from the Rotherham Advertiser who lost both his sight and hearing for an experiment for the paper has told how he found the experience “terrifying”.

Tom Sharpe, (23), wore a blindfold and earguards during a trip into Rotherham town centre to get an insight into the difficulties which people who suffer from deafblindness encounter.

Accompanied by Hilary McNeeney, Rotherham Borough Council’s dual sensory loss specialist, the trainee reporter walked through the town and stopped for a coffee – and admitted afterwards that life in total darkness and with very little sound had left him feeling vulnerable.

Tom said: “I met her at the council offices and she took me into Rotherham and we went for a coffee – it was pretty terrifying.

“It can be quite scary walking through Rotherham anyway, but this was a totally new experience!”

Hilary offered to be Tom’s guide to help raise awareness of deafblindness, which affects more than 400 people in Rotherham, and Tom’s familiarity with the town centre helped him to deal with the loss of two vital senses.

But the simple task of ordering a coffee became almost impossible, despite Hilary’s help.

Tom said: “I know the town centre well myself and I knew when we were going through the bus station because it has tiled flooring, and when we reached All Saints Square because I could vaguely hear a fountain.”

He added: “I wouldn’t have got my coffee if I had been alone.

“She left me to order and tapped me to tell me we were there. I asked for a coffee but then she tapped me again and I didn’t understand.

“I said ‘that’s all thank you’ but it turns out he had asked me to repeat the order because I had said it so quietly because I couldn’t hear myself.”

Afterwards Tom spoke to a man who had developed problems with his sight and hearing, and quickly discovered that while there are many things that can be adapted, others cannot.

Tom said: “He said the hardest thing was losing the images of his granchildren and his wife. He missed knowing what the world and people he talked to looked like.

“It was a relief to take the blindfold and earguards off and it hits you quite hard that a lot of people don’t have the option of switching the lights back on.”