> Hearing aids are so uncool 80 year olds don't want to be seen with one. They are all about being small, flesh colored and "invisible."
This might be true for older populations but kids can get brightly coloured hearing aids and moulds[2]! When I was first being fitted for HA's (at age 32) my audiologist assumed I would want the least visible model possible but I opted for larger more visible behind the ear models...I want people who I interact with to be able to see that I have hearing loss. People tend to get annoyed if you ask them over and over to repeat themselves but are generally much more patient if they know you are hard of hearing.
[1] Just FYI The term hearing-impaired is somewhat offensive to some people (not me) who prefer hard-of-hearing or deaf, or Deaf
[2] https://www.google.ca/search?q=kids+hearing+aids&num=30&sour...