I should add that these days, I'm mostly around my own place and not in much danger of anything external. Honestly, I wear the hearing aids more for Mrs. Merkt than myself. Were I to become widowed, I probably wouldn't wear them around home. Being hard of hearing places some burden on those around you, what with asking for repeats and so on.When the VA tested my hearing for the first time decades later, they told me, "Your hearing is such that you are in danger when out and about."