I find that hearing aids are hard to get used to in daily life. You really do hear everything, and much more than you usually want to. They are wonderful under certain circumstances, but I have lived almost fifty with bad hearing, so I am mostly adapted to it. In my early 20s I was playing around with a Ruger Red Hawk in an abandoned railroad cut without ear protection and paid the price. It was sad at first, because I enjoyed my better-than-average hearing. I recall sometimes laying out in a country field at twilight, closing my eyes and just taking in all the sounds. As I settled in, it seemed as if my consciousness expanded over the cleared acres and into the nearby forest. I could hear everything. Oh well, you live and learn, if you're lucky.
I’ve had bad hearing in my right ear all my life. Mom and Dad bought me my first hearing aid when I was 14, for my bad ear. Working in loud factories w/out hearing protection made it even worse in both ears. When my wife and I watch tv I have the closed-captioning on. My daughter bought me Beat headphones when I’m watching by myself. Love those things!