Does Hearing Loss Disqualify Me from Audiophiledom?

My mother had to take a drug to maintain pregnancy and both her and I had/have prominent tinnitus. I have never had good hearing, but I do like music and do have a sense of what is musical..etc. I don’t know to what degree what I hear corresponds to what you hear and like others my hearing has diminished over time. I have questioned if it is reasonable to spend large amounts of money when my hearing is impaired, but I do hear differences and do have preferences.

I have recently ventured into the world of KPop. I don’t speak Korean, but due to watching KDramas I do catch a few phrases. BTW.. the KDrama “The Glory” recently became the top TV series on Netflix worldwide and third in US. Worth watching for sure. Part of my hearing loss with age is an inability to understand speech in a noisy environment, but this has allowed me to enjoy music without understanding the lyrics.

Let’s hope that all of us age well with normal decline.

I believe we are too deep into this so the chances of not getting satisfaction will be minimal.

@carlsbad - thanks for the advice.  And thanks to everyone for telling their story.  

It would be interesting to try and match your measured hearing abilities to a speakers measurements.  Understand where your limits of hearing and often exaggerated frequency distortions can be matched relative to a response of a speaker.  More like fitting a shoe to a foot rather than one size fits all approach.   This is what we all try and accomplish but in a very un-scientific manner.  It could help focus the search for the optimal sound.

And I wonder if those of us with hearing loss and other issues gravitate towards a certain type of speaker (horn loaded, soft dome, planar) or amp (Tube, Class A, AB, D)?

you may not fully audibly appreciate your system, but surely you will enjoy at least looks.