In reply to Julie's "...I can relate to many of the historically."
Pretty much like series with stable characters, you have extra knowledge that makes everything easier to understand.

Earlier, you mentioned "auditory fatigue," where we get so exhausted that we simply tune out for a few minutes. I don't know if it's different for me, or if I don't give in and tune out, just keep on trying...at any rate, I lose all ability to retain the details, even when I understand them. Really bad when you need to ask someone to repeat their name, not because they failed to speak clearly, but because you couldn't understand...and then you see them a few days later, and have zero idea of what their name is.

I also have a bad time often with captions, esp. when they lag behind. If I try to watch them (in spite of the words they get wrong), I can't watch the person speaking, so lose the chance to try to understand that way. On live programs, the captions often leave out entire sentences. So, I thought I heard something specific, try to confirm via captions, and find that thought just isn't there. By then, I've lost all continuity. I've tried Live Transcribe during meetings, but by trying to read what appears later and still listen, I miss more than just the straight-on way of piecing together what I see with what I think I've heard. Because I'm a Menierian, I can often hear (esp. with one aid), but making the sound turn into real, useful words is something else. I have both recruitment and distortion and only hear via one ear...

Speaking of funny moments: I have a friend who's also virtually deaf on one side. One day we were walking in a section of city where every block is filled with buildings, the streets cutting through at every block. We both heard a siren, but, because we both only hear via one ear, neither of us had the slightest idea where it might me. We nearly collapsed from laughing when we caught each other whipping our heads around to try to figure out where and what the emergency vehicle was! We've also had some priceless moments where a waiter stands behind you and runs through all today's specials. The person facing the waiter repeats the entire mess to the other person, the one the waiter is standing behind. The look on the waiter's face is extremely funny, at least to us!