About 30 years ago, I wrecked the inside of one of my ears with a severe ear infection/drum perforation/drum repair 3 years later. My hearing is poor in that ear. Over the last several years, I have nearly identical hearing loss in the other ear.

Three different audiologists over the last 10 years have told me that I'm fortunate that my hearing loss isn't in the range of human speech. That baffles me because I have so much trouble hearing people. If there is any background noise and I can't see the speakers lips, I won't be able to understand what is said. I get anxious in restaraunts when ordering food because two-way communication is so unreliable. With too much noise, even lip reading isn't enough because it takes me so long to decipher the sounds into words. It leads to awkward silences while I try to figure it out. My wife generally orders for me as if I'm not an English speaker.
It's hard at home too. If someon in another room tries to talk to me, I'm out. I can't do that.

So, I finally tried hearing aids last year for about a month.
They slightly amplified background noise but did nothing to help me hear when people speak.
It's disappointing.

If I watch non-sports on TV, I can't follow dialog without captions.