Easily the best and most significant sonic tweak one could ever make!

I went to the Village Vanguard once, and my table-mate had cochlear implants.  Had lost hearing as an infant. He told me he had learned to hear language through Books-on-Tape...and it had taken him awhile to realize he was on auto-repeat.  Said he had come to hear Tom Harrel because his brain had just recently begun to hear/process the trumpet. We sat in the front row.

Hearing and music are wondrous gifts.

Loudspeakers transduce electrical energy back to acoustic where the long transduction chain began. Now the HA pick up the sound waves in the air, transduce to electrical, amplify, then retransduce to acoustical. If the loudspeakers are outputting average SPL of 70db, then the HA will give you up around 90. Or so I understand. Of course HA are supposed to do more than amplify, and IMO, they do, though I can't say how. Maybe someone can clarify the mechanics and audionics here.  

I blow my nose before serious listening. Clears my ears and everything seems clearer. No kidding!

Hearing aid user since 2007.  Third set, Oticon OPN-1 which was their top of the line 3 years ago.  Bluetooth, all the bells and whistles plus custom molds.  The Oticon have tinnitus compensation which does offset that annoying ‘whistle’ but doesn’t make it disappear.  I’m 69.

How did I know something was an issue?  Besides my wife complaining I discovered that the music I listened to was becoming more distorted.  My system at the time was 70s vintage McIntosh with JBL 4311’s.  I honestly thought something was failing.  I borrowed a friends receiver and heard the same kind of distortion.  Eventually I saw an ENT whose practice had an audiologist and that helped get my issue under control.

Yep, I hate the cost of those things.  For my second set I tried Costco but you are at the mercy of their fitter who may or may not be an accredited audiologist.  They offer a no questions asked refund if you’re not happy, I wasn’t and I had no difficulty getting my money back.

if you can find an audiologist who has worked with musicians that’s a plus.  
You can expect a lifespan of 5 to 7 years for a set of HA’s.   Like everything else older designs lose manufacturers support.  So far no issues with Oticon.