I've worn hearing aids for about 15 years or so, and have likely needed them well before that. Hearing loss runs in my family, plus I've been to hundreds of concerts! I love headphones and have a great headphone system as well as a 2-channel one. I do not blare them at earsplitting volume; dont do that with my speakers, either. I have in-ear hearing aids so I can use them with my headphones. I have hissy tinnitus too, but I've been pretty used to that for a long time. Sometimes it's louder, sometimes it's quieter.
Hearing aids
Every audiophile over 55 should get hearing aids....
OK. that's a bit strong but many should. Several years ago I had money left over in my Healthcare spending account. I asked my doctor if there was any new cure for tinnitis and he sent me to an audiologist because there are now hearing aids that claim to help. Well, long story short, they gave me a set of loaners and I immediately noticed a difference in noisy environments such as restuarants and I bought myself a pair. They did not help the tinnitis for me. My hearing isn't that bad. I have some frequencies that are depressed but I'd say there are probably 20-40% of the people I know near my age (64) who have worse hearing and don't wear hearing aids. I think of it like my eyes. If you have 20/60 eyes, you get glasses. Why do people wait until they have 20/500 hearing to get hearing aids?
Then I started noticing that music sounded better and started getting back into listening. Since then I've bought a lot of equipment and am having a blast. I'm sure my hearing isn't as good as it was when I was 20, but at 20 I couldn't afford audiophile equipment either.
Occasionally after a shower I'll find my system to sound bland and realize I don't have the hearing aids in. But generally I wear them all day, every day. Because I want to hear all the notes.
So a quality pair of hearing aids very much flattens the frequency response of your ears and does it in very high quality. Don't go cheap. Don't worry what people will think when they see hearing aids (appparently a barrier to some). But I highly recommend it as you get older and you want to get the most out of listening.
Jerry