Having only about 1/2 the hearing capabilities of the rest of you, I probably hear more silence than most of you do, and I like my quiet world. Tried hearing aids once, and they drove me batty! Lots of things were actually painful.

If I am listening to music, I have to LISTEN to it; it can't be background noise or I just don't hear it. I hate piped in music music of other people's choice as much as kendall.

Most of my hearing problem is in discrimnation of sounds, i.e., seventy sounds just like seventeen. If there is more than one thing going on, like conversation and music, or several conversations, I am almost totally lost if I can't see the person talking.