I have otosclerosis in one ear. I didn’t want to have surgery since they told me that there was a risk of cutting the facial nerve and I was still working. So I got a single in-the-ear hearing aid and wore it for four years. Then retired, I decided to go for the surgery. I luckily found the right surgeon because it is not a common surgery!!! He put a tiny device in my ear to hold the stapes bone (stapedotomy) and my hearing immediately improved in that ear. So I only had to deal with normal hearing loss in both ears. Except I found out that I also have third window syndrome. So I am sensitive to frequencies. It took me a while, but I finally got around to getting hearing aids. Mostly because I like them for talking on the cell phone hands free. And I turned off the titles on the TV.