From a hearing point of view I'm like you Tom and I lose voices in noisy situations and often have to rely on lip-reading to fully understand what is being said to me. I find it really frustrating if people cover their mouths, or look away from me when they are speaking, then I end up asking to repeat themselves. When I have students in my class they usually cotton on quite quick, or I tell them - thankfully adults are usually quite grown-up about it, but in everyday life where people can't see you might have some difficulty hearing it just seems to end up be becoming frustrated and them being annoyed with me for misunderstanding them. I might wear glasses and not care but I'm still too vain for a heairng aid so I'm my own worst enemy I know!