Does Hearing Loss Disqualify Me from Audiophiledom?

@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.

I wear above-the-ear hearing aids when listening to 2-channel, and in-ear hearing aids for headphones... I may not hear it as well as some, but I can certainly tell the difference in sound quality.... 

IMHO, hearing is to audio what eye sight is to fine art. Yes, you need to be able to hear or see for both, but better sight or hearing ability doesn’t necessarily make you better at identifying and recognizing the finer points....experience and exposure to better sound help us develop a more advanced point of reference.

My vision is still fine, but I know nothing about fine art....never had any exposure or interest. My hearing was better when I first started in audio 1981, but I was far less experienced at recognizing good sound. Exposure to great sounding gear can help us to learn to recognize it when we hear it. I’m sure the same is true of art.

Had my hearing tested for my recent 70th Birthday (70 is the new 50).

Tell you what, the frequencies were presented (via headphones) SO LOW (25 db?) they were barely discernable. From my own experience, I’d say the test was invalid. I can hear triangles at the back of the stage, musicians turning their music pages, audience members sniffing and coughing (when listening at normal levels), etc.. I can hold my arm straight out, rub my fingers lightly together and hear it plainly. The technician said I had a 6khz cutoff. At normal levels, I disagree.

BTW, this testing center also sold hearing aids. Couldn’t have anything to do with it, right?