Did Charles Have Some Sensory Deficits?

I have noticed how Gene Rayburn will, without being asked to, sometimes walk up to Charles Nelson Reilly after reading a question and allow him to read it off of the card, which he does not do with the other celebrities unless they don't "get" the question and specifically ask him to, like Brett does sometimes.

A couple of days ago I saw an episode of "Super Password" from the mid-'80s and Charles was a guest celebrity. Whenever it was his turn to read the word that he was to describe to the contestant, he would take the little electronic box with the word on it and hold it up close to his face, but the other celebrities on this show never do that, they leave it on the table.

I know he wore those thick glasses, but I was never sure, since he was kind of flamboyant, if those were for real or just a prop, so maybe he did have poor eyesight, but did he also suffer from hearing loss, hence the reason why Gene let him read the question after it was just read out loud?