My hearing deficits are becoming clear...

For some reason, I cannot get links to work right now. Look up Auditory Processing Disorder. It is not uncommon and can onset in adults. I have dealt with it my entire life and it is very frustrating at times.

Get that hearing checked.

I'm no good past 7khz with imbalance of L/R AND  massive tinnitus. Doesn't interfere with music, but like you when in a noisy room with people, it's difficult at times to pick some things up in a conversation. 

I believe MC has a lot in common with our prez, they just can’t help themselves. 

Get the hearing aids.You’re right: several voices in one room is the worst: my aids had a setting for restaurants and situations like that--those settings actually work.

One thing you might find (I sure did) is that once you start wearing them (and letting the techs slowly crank them up over a period of weeks), you will begin hearing ’lost’ sounds without them. (I think this is what mahgister is getting at). Part of dealing with hearing loss is re-training your brain to compensate for what your ears are doing. I never wear my aids when listening to music or going to a concert (why would I spend thousands and thousands of dollars on an audio system, or hundreds on a symphony, then listen to it through an amplifier and speakers the size of a small earthworm?). But based on my own advice, I would do well to put them in occasionally and retrain my brain to hear stuff I may have forgotten.

(And YES:  please do not f*ck with Covid! we all miss gatherings.   If we're on this site, life is clearly not all that bad.  We can endure the suffering of not having a family reunion or a Sunday barbeque for a year or so.)

@ oldhvymec, find it very interesting that your tinnitus subsided after your heart repair, please elaborate to the repair and any thoughts of why if shared to you by your surgeon or cardiologist. Thanks.  Enjoy the music