I'd also like to welcome you, @omegaman17 to Mayo Clinic Connect. I wear hearing aids so I'll add some information from my own story.

In a sense, hearing aids are like prescription glasses. My husband and I both wear glasses but if I put his on the world looks like a Monet still life painting! Just as vision is one of our senses so is hearing. So, hearing aids also need to be prescribed for your hearing. The only professional that is university trained and licensed in this field is an audiologist. Until several years ago audiologists could be licensed with a master's degree in audiology. Audiologists who are more recently licensed are required to have to a doctoral degree (AuD or Ph.D.). The reason I'm writing all of this is that it's important to know the difference between a hearing aid dealer and an audiologist. There are hearing aid dealers who have audiologists work with them but most audiologists work in medical settings such as an Ear, Nose, and Throat medical practice. Also, once you purchase hearing aids through an audiologist you can return for check ups, adjustments, at no additional charge to you.

I went to a doctoral level (AuD) licensed audiologist. I was required to have a referral from my primary care doctor. I also had Blue Cross Blue Shield at that time and knew that if I "qualified" for hearing aids my insurance plan would cover the cost. Yes, my hearing loss was just enough for hearing aids to be prescribed. I worked with my audiologist to select the hearing aids best for me.

I have hearing aids with domes that fits in the ear. The reason I have domes instead of ear molds is that I needed only certain sound frequencies within the speech spectrum to be programmed into my hearing aid. The dome allows me to hear the frequencies I can easily hear on my own. An ear mold wouldn't let me do that.

Domes vs. ear molds, types of hearing aids (in the ear, behind the ear) hearing aids that you can control with a Smart Phone (I control mine with my iPhone) are all issues to discuss with your audiologist.

This is a lot of information to take in. I hope it will help you decide what you'd like to do. Personally I will tell you that I LOVED my hearing aids right away. I can function better in noisy environments, I can hear the radio and TV better and best of all it's improved communication with my husband.

Will you please come back here and let us know what you decide to do or if you have other questions, @omegaman17 ?

Best wishes for good hearing,

Helen