A MUM paranoid about her bad hearing found a BB gun pellet that had been wedged in her ear for 11 years.

Medics pulled the bullet from Jade Harris' ear with a metal hook after she was sent to hospital by her perplexed GP.

And now the 28-year-old says she can hear perfectly, although has to get used to her own voice - after it had been muffled for over a decade.

The health care assistant says she remembers a friend shooting a BB gun during a house party when she was just 17 - and the bullet hit a glass and ricocheted towards her.

Jade thought the pellet clipped her ear and landed somewhere in the house, however she now realises the yellow ball had whizzed into her ear and stayed there for 11 years.

Jade, from Plymouth, said: “Everyone always told me off for being loud as I was shouting a lot due to not hearing myself.

“It felt awful not being able to hear properly and it was so embarrassing.

“It drove me mad when I had to speak on the phone which I think is why I have a thing about speaking on the phone to people now.

“I had no pain from the ear but had to turn the telly up and was constantly saying, ‘what did you say?’ and ‘pardon?’ to people.”

Jade went to her GP in July last year after getting water in her right ear, which was aggravating her hearing issues, and the problem was found.

Mum-of-two Jade said her decade-long hearing loss affected her self-esteem and dictated what she could do socially with pals and her children Gracie-Mai Jade Biggs, 8, and five-year-old Hope Jade Corbin.

Jade said: “I never went swimming as I was paranoid about my hearing getting worse.

“Going to loud places such as gigs or a play centre or children’s party with the kids was a no-no because I couldn’t hear well as it was so I wouldn’t have heard a thing.

“I used to get my friends and family to take the them to places I couldn’t so they wouldn’t miss out.

“I just tended to stay home a lot but would take the kids to the park.”