@arrowshooter Your hearing loss sounds very similar to mine. When I had my last hearing tests (I am due for one next month) it was two years ago. My hearing of sound had not changed much but my word recognition had decreased substantially. Interestingly, when I talk to my son, daughter, husband or sister on my Iphone I hear them very well. When I get a call that has to do with something else, like from a doctor's office of anything of that nature, it's impossible. Sometimes I intentionally let it go to voicemail because my phone captions the message.
I have the Oticon hearing aids with the Connect Clip. The Connect Clip is very helpful in some situations. It is good if you just want to hear one person. It does not help, nor does "live listen" if I put it on a table in the restaurant so I can hear the other people at the table because all of the extraneous noise also gets magnified.
I thought about ASL but I only know one person who knows it so I would only be able to communicate with her. She used to teach deaf children. I think for me learning lip reading would be more helpful.
JK