A good post by the OP and he did the right thing the first time. If it happened again, I might have to say something. We have a friend that can talk like that. We use to go on motorcycle rides. EVERY time we stopped, that phone was in her ear as soon as the helmet came off....she was a YACKER!
"CavemanCharlie".....we must have the same ears and issues. 34 years of Law Enforcement and explosive work have left my ears damaged. My left ear is the worse and I can't hear high pitch noise, which often includes my wife and one of my daughters on her cell phone. When it's quiet, I usually just hear the ringing. If only it would play a tune.:D
It seems in the evening when we're home, everyone still calls the cell phone vs the house phone, especially my brother who is as deaf as me.:S
We recently replaced our house phone with a portable Panasonic phone now sold at Costco. It links your cell phones to your house phone. Once we get home, our cell phones automatically connect, via Bluetooth, to our house phone. You can answer, I believe up to three cell phones, and the house line all on the same phone. It works great!