When I first was losing my hearing went to hub's audi office and had hearing test and looked in my ears for wax- no wax.
I'm hard of hearing and am similar to OP in terms of what they describe.
I say I'm hoh because that way hearing <people> know I have trouble hearing and because it's most appropriate ID in the d/Deaf community in my area. I don't have HA's partly cause we can't afford them for both me -and - my husband who is oral deaf, raised hearing, and does have bilateral BTE's. His BTE's are actually loaned from his audi since he needs new aids for a few years now but has been just trying to keep getting them fixed enough to use. <He has technical /EE -'EE'= Electronic Engineer- background so he can work with them himself quite a bit>.
So his own aids <no the loaners he wears> have actually been "getting fixed" this most recent time, for maybe a year now.
and no, not eligible for DVR or Lion's Club or anything though I was a DVR client in college.
Deaf w/little d and hoh terms are both cultural/contextual but then have more "medical" or "institutional " definitions also.
Hard of hearing goes from mild to profound in terms of "medical" perspective.
