I can’t see the audiogram (now deleted?), but 40dB at 4kHz sounds a little worse than mine. I got aids earlier this year, and they are helping to the extent that I think maybe I should have got them a few years ago. I think my coping strategies were increasing as my hearing deteriorated. One was getting people to talk louder, one was avoiding the situations in the first place. I’m a year younger than you.
Although I had an immediate significant improvement in being able to understand speech, it has taken 2 months for it to stop sounding weird. I think it’s very hard for a new user to properly evaluate the benefits.
I’m under the impression that one can start to lose the ability to process speech as your hearing deteriorates. Perhaps that’s what they were referring to, rather than your actual hearing.
I wouldn’t expect music to ever sound the same again. Hearing aids are mainly aimed at helping with speech. They don’t bring back the very high frequencies. They’re of limited use in noisy rooms too.
Rather than worrying about the hassle vs the benefits, I would be considering the costs vs the benefits. It’s not that much of a hassle once you’re used to them. If they’d been cheaper, I would have got them years ago. I still find the cost incredible. But you haven’t mentioned cost at all. What type are they suggesting? How much? If money’s not a big issue, and if you feel further decline is inevitable, I’d be thinking you should be considering getting aids. But sounds like you need to find a better audiologist. They should be testing with less background noise, and should be doing speech tests.
It would be good if someone from a climate similar to Singapore could tell us what it’s like with aids in a humid climate. Perhaps protecting them from humidity will be more hassle than other places.