Half of adults over the age of seventy-five report hearing loss yet one in six Americans with hearing loss wears hearing aids. That is in contrast to the 90 percent of people who wear glasses over the age of fifty-five even though only one in six report vision loss.
A large percentage of people with hearing loss let it go untreated, despite research showing links between untreated hearing loss and increased risk of falls, depression, hospitalizations, and even dementia. On the other hand, treating hearing loss with hearing aids is proven to minimize those risks, reduce hearing-loss-related cognitive decline, and provide a lot of other benefits like improved earning power, increased confidence and social participation, better relationships, and better overall quality of life.
You can test a hearing aid to see if you like it. Most people seem to like hearing aids once they actually use them.