Thanks. There’s a 45-day return period. I am skeptical, but we shall see. Maybe I’ll realize there are sounds I haven’t heard in years. Maybe I’ll realize there aren’t… This stuff is far more subjective than I ever imagined it would be and audiograms far less meaningful.
You should expect to hear many sounds you can not hear now. All these new sounds can be overwhelming at first. Be patient and give yourself time to learn all these new sounds before quitting hearing aids.
This statement is pretty much wrong. The audiogram is factual. How you deal with it can be subjective though.
Good luck.
A simple answer to a simple question. Yes
I understand that the audiogram is objective, but overwhelmingly the feedback has been that the audiogram cannot indicate whether I need hearing aids. So . . . ??? But I do now see one clear, definitive, unambiguous “yes” in answer to my initial question.
I had already decided to be fitted for aids tomorrow (or whatever it is I’ll be doing there) 1) because there’s a 45-day return option if they don’t work for me; 2) I didn’t like what I saw in research papers that associated cognitive decline and memory loss with hearing loss and tinnitus (which I don’t remember not having); 3) i just want to see whether I really would hear better.
The HAs I’m considering have bluetooth. With a bluetooth television, theoretically I can send sound directly to the aids. Reservation: the aids I listened to at the audiologist’s shop sounded tinny as hell, so I’m skeptical that they can deliver good audio for movies and music and I speculate that I might be better served by a bluetooth headset for those activities.
Anyway, at this juncture this is all pointlessly theoretical. I shall find out for myself in several days’ time.
Ah. Simplicity, clarity. Just what I’ve been looking for. 
I just wrote this on the same topic, check it:
Also, I’d recommend https://blog.valuehearing.com.au/news/do-i-really-need-expensive-hearing-aid
and the rest of their blog to understand how things work.
Also, dr cliff on youtube, and checklist on his site about best practices
But only way to see if you need aid, or better said, if the aid you can get can help you, is to try it and compare in various situations. Especially in those you were told that you have a problem, but also open your ears for new things, if you hear some sounds that you haven’t heard before/for a long time, that will be really palpable proof of difference.
If it’s useful for you, you again will have to decide.
People with high frequency hearing loss use aids to get the clarity and headphones over them to get the proper bass.
Simplicity? I’ll join the chorus…yes.
Tinny? That is an exact observation of needing aids. Your brain has been missing all of those normal higher frequency sounds and so everything currently sounds quiet and muffled…but you’re used to it. With aids, you need to get used to hearing all of the proper sounds as they exist. Flushing the toilet, scrunching paper, dishes clattering, birds chirping, crickets cricketing, the wind, then of course all the sounds of speech. It takes a little while to retrain the brain. Some practitioners will start you kind of low for “volume” to let you adjust to all the new sounds. Then over time they’ll get you up to prescription.
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This may not be correct. There are different types of Bluetooth. They do not communicate with each other. But, most hearing aid brands have a tv connector that can convert the tv sound into the correct Bluetooth for their aids. This is really nice by the way.
And as mentioned, tinny sound is an example of someone who needs aids that hasn’t worn them. These are new sounds you haven’t heard in a long time.
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Where’s that WOW icon? Oh, wait. Here it is: 
Thanks, Blacky. I’ve been learning a ton from you guys over the past couple of days. As a result, I feel much better equipped to deal with tomorrow’s appointment and the possible consternation of adjusting to HAs. But even after all that, I still just don’t believe that my hearing is all that bad. I guess we’ll see.
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Disappointed in that Bluetooth news. I just assumed that Bluetooth is Bluetooth is Bluetooth and that if my TV delivered it my HAs would receive it. Sounds like there may be additional cost involved. Purely accidental and the part of the HA manufacturer, I’m sure.
If you look at my chart (click on my Z avatar icon) you’ll see that I don’t drop down as low as you. I think I can hear alright as well. But I just need that boost. But then even with them, I still don’t hear everything. So I just withdraw. I’m not going to constantly ask people to speak up or say that again or whatever. So I stare out the window…if I’m with others. Sometimes I’ll turn up the volume but mostly I can’t be bothered. Some people are soft-spoken. Some people trail off at the end of sentences. I call it missing the noun. I could hear the sentence except the subject of the sentence.
Bluetooth is a more recent thing around here. For a few years now, Apple led the way. But they’re proprietary. Phonak went the open standards route. Others are competing with that now. It IS bluetooth. You can connect to bluetooth transmitters. It’s just “better” with their bluetooth doodads.
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I guess I do say “huh” a lot, especially with my spouse, who tends to speak softly and sometimes trails off almost to the point of being totally inaudible. You’d think after 35 years of being together my spouse would know to speak up rather than complain that I can’t hear, so sometimes I say “huh” repeatedly just to annoy. 
(Oops. Did I just say that?)
I think a lot of us do, because power of the voice goes down as you exhale, and since we mostly aren’t trained in public speech and proper breathing which would help to keep intonations as wanted, no wonder we HoH have such issues.
I also learned that if I just say ‘huh’, I’ll get the same thing, which isn’t useul. So I train myself to say - can you just tell me the end, after ‘x’. Fun thing, many times people don’t remember 
What makes difference is external mic - they’re much more sensitive and can catch soft tones which get lost in the air between you and the person talking otherwise. But yes, they need to carry it.
If it’s important… 
I’ll sometimes ask repeating back what I heard and that trailing vocal method of asking what that next word was.
The running joke with the spouse is that I’ll repeat back what I initially heard. Hilarity ensues.
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This happens ALL.THE.TIME at my house…sometimes hysterical…
The reason that an audiogram can’t determine if you need hearing aids is because it depends on one’s situation. If somebody with that audiogram was a hermit, or lived in a deaf community where signing was the means of communication, they wouldn’t “need” hearing aids. However if somebody attempts to communicate regularly with somebody and there are issues with either party, hearing aids are likely to be useful.
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Most of us don’t realize we need hearing aids until we get them, and realize the sounds we haven’t been hearing.
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Z - I so relate to you no asking ppl to speak up or repeat. I also just kind of withdraw and gaze out the window or around. It catches me off sometimes as - I then hear more of what is being said and then have to ask the subject Most of the time I just let it all roll. For the most part it just aint that important.
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Not sure if it was mentioned above but costco has a 6 month trial period.
Before I got the aids I couldn’t hear the wife. Now I have to ignore her.
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Hmmmm, you gotta learn “selective” hearing like the rest of us husbands…lol