Thanks for this topic. I have a fiddler friend whose hearing loss has become quite evident and who goes 'off' far enough that several other lead players (mandolin and banjo) really don't want to play with him anymore. They say that if he were to switch to a fretted instrument, such as a mando, which he also plays, that it would buy him a lot of playing time.

The friend has mentioned his hearing loss to me but I've never told him that we're aware of it. Is there a tactful way of encouraging him to check out hearing aids? From what I hear (no pun intended), often the aids are not really all that helpful- and they certainly are expensive for a retired guy such as he is.

On the other hand, he's been in a band since he was 15 years old and music is the number one thing in his life...

Ebbie