@catladyde9 There are no HLLA chapters here in NH either, the closest is an hour away in MA. Healthgrades.com does include audiologists in their ratings, so you might want to start there. I find it's not a reliable source unless there are quite a few reviews of the health care professional, but if you don't know anyone else who has a hearing loss you might need to try something like that. There may be other sites that review audiologists also. Or, you can look up audiologists in your area and check them out for their education and see if the business/doctor they work for has reviews of the professionals. A few do. You also could ask your PCP. I am sure most doctors can recommend audiologists, they must have other patients with hearing impairments.
As far as researching hearing aids themselves, I think there are sites that do review them. From what I know, Oticon, Phonak, and Widex are all well regarded. If you go to an audiologist who prescribes those brands I am sure they will help you what the right hearing aid is for you.
Let me know what you find out. I know this is difficult. When I first started with an audiologist it was because I realized that my daughter at age 3 was having a problem hearing. Her pediatrician had me put off getting her tested for a year but when I did he was the one who recommended someone. That was in 1986 and I still go to the same office, just a different audiologist. I did not develop a hearing problem until around 2004.

@2mnycars Hi Dave. I have no idea on how you would set up a regional forum but I think a first step would be to speak to your audiologist and have them notify other patients that you were doing that, and perhaps have some brochures available for the audiologist to give out to patients. You could bring them to other audiologists' offices too.
I'm glad that you are so happy with your current hearing aids. So much depends on the audiologist and on the support they give you. I was having problems that my audi could not resolve so she actually had a representative come two times from the company (Oticon). The rep was in Saratoga NY and my audi is in Manchester, NH, so it was not a short journey. My issues did get resolved though, it turned out that I had a defective hearing aid. They even gave me a break on the price of an accessory due to the problems I had. If you want to learn more about the getting ways to get the best help from your aids I suggest you sign up for emails from CHC --- Center for Hearing and Communication in NYC and FL. Many of their emails are telling about events but they also sometimes have some about real life experiences. There is a book that one of the people who I believe is associated with them has written that I intend to purchase. It's "Smart Hearing: Strategies, Skills, and Resources for Living Better with Hearing Loss" by Katherine Bouton, and is available on Amazon. I haven't bought it yet so I can't positively vouch for it but it sounds promising.
JK