@joangela, depending on where you live there may be a chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) or the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) near you. HLAA has chapters all over the country and most hold local meetings where you can meet others with severe hearing loss. Our chapter in New York City has monthly meetings, which often feature a guest speaker and always provide live captioning with CART. We have many members with quite severe hearing loss. Try http://www.hearingloss.org/chapters to see if there's a chapter near you.

Hi, @joangela I would also like to welcome you to Connect. I have had a hearing loss since 2004 which has gotten progressively worse over the years. I wear hearing aids but the latest problem I have had is a loss of clarity, and hearing aids help less with that than they do with volume. I do have hearing aids that were considered to be the most sophisticated in helping with that when I purchased them a little over two years ago. They have improved them even more but with the cost of hearing aids, it would be impossible to update them with every improvement.
I believe my original loss was probably due to getting older, but the loss of clarity is probably due to some necessary drugs I have to take.
I agree with @IndianaScott and @sparklegram Social situations can be very difficult. I have a problem even in my own home when we have company. Often there is more than one person speaking so it just becomes garbled. I have on occasion just stopped trying and politely dropped out.
I try to go primarily to restaurants that I know are a bit quieter. Some restaurants have tall booths or plexiglass shields between the booths and that helps to baffle the noise a bit.
I've heard great things about HLAA that @katherinebouton mentioned but unfortunately, the closest one to me is over away and their meetings are at night. I wish we had a closer one.
JK