My niece is an audiologist and talks about how important it is for patients to keep working with their audiologist to adjust the hearing aid so that it works best for them. Every patient's needs/environment is different, so that can take some time and repeated visits. Have you been working with your audiologist to find the right adjustments? My dad finally broke down and got his hearing aids this year. He's needed them for years but was pretty stubborn about it. Anyway, he calls my niece and talks to her about his hearing aids, and she's always referring him back to his audiologist for adjustments.

I work with two teachers right on my hallway who have hearing aids. As far as I know, they don't have to report their need for aids to anyone. Hearing aids are pretty common anymore, and they are SO much improved over what was available in the past.

Hope you get them working correctly for you and get adjusted. I know it can take time.