There are great points in here. I use hearing aids for two different reasons for each ear. My first hearing aid was because I had a benign tumor that while ben

There are great points in here. I use hearing aids for two different reasons for each ear. My first hearing aid was because I had a benign tumor that while benign, ate away at my stapes. After surgery to remove it, I no longer have a stapes, and so while my ear drum and my inner ear work fine, only air pressure connects them - no bones. Then as I got older, my other ear started dulling, and so I got a second one. And I was actually really happy about that, because one thing hearing people wouldn't think about - modern hearing aids are little computers, and they have a lot of functions. When you have two hearing aids, one of them can focus on a voice and track it even if the person is moving while speaking. For the hearing aid wearer, it means you can hear this person super easily in places other people might find it too noisy! And they have settings, which are like the different named EQ settings some mp3 software have (rock, classical, etc) but way smarter. They're more about the environment around you, so mine (as an example) are set for "standard" which is the median of what you want to normally hear, then "voice in noise" which focuses in on voices while suppressing background noise, and "music/nature" that makes everything very 3D and super clear. The other settings I use are variations of the same, but there are others, for example "driving" that suppresses the sound of rubber on the road. So... protect your ears. But also don't be afraid of wearing hearing aids if you need them, because in some ways you'll get better hearing than you've ever had. (And you can use them to answer and talk on your phone without touching your phone... that's an added bonus!)