@dannoci I presume you are referring to a cochlear implant. Why can you not get one now?

@reallyrosie I realize that I cannot change the clarity, I was just wondering how other people may compensate for it. I do always use closed captions. The hearing aids I have are supposed to be the best for clarity -- Oticon Opn1 -- something about the way they process sound. Good advice about having the light behind me. Of course that's not always possible but I will try to be conscious of that. I use the Oticon "Connect Clip" that is a little microphone that a person can wear and their voice goes directly into my hearing aid. That is very helpful. Restaurants can be so noisy though that all of the extraneous noise still makes it difficult to discern what someone is saying.

I've been wearing hearing aids since around 2004 and this loss of clarity has happened in the last couple of years. I've had my current aids for about a year and a half now. It's very frustrating. Thanks for the tips.

@tulip I will ask my audiologist about an implant, thanks.

I definitely plan to purchase the book I mentioned above. I hate it when I am in a room with multiple people talking and I feel bombarded with sound. I sometimes just end up dropping out.
JK