Welcome and congratulations on finding one door for self discovery and betterment.
You are a lucky young man. Wish I had your fine hearing.
I been wearing aids since way before I was your age.
Technology and resources like this forum, are wonderful benefits that can serve you well into the future.
Your post must be read with some satisfaction by the men who have till now only their wives to blame for their hearing loss… but you bring up dogs - grrrrrr! .
My view here is purely my own… do not interpret it as being supported by any facts!
(facts seem to be on the way out… if I interpret the daily news correctly), but to answer your question…
I DO recommend use of two hearing aids for a number of reasons.
Firstly, they will keep your awareness of sound, and your skill in interpreting sound, sharper, than if you recede into the enveloping silence and in essence tune out.
Secondly, it can take a while to get comfortable with and be second nature handling them… just the insertion, removal, operation, buttons, slides, levers, all that stuff and also knowing what they don’t have… so as you get to be my old age… you will be comfortable with them.
There is a lot of press out now that failure to stimulate your hearing… can in some way lessen your cognitive acuity. Maybe. Not sure how much of that is real vs hype.
Possibly there is conflicting research on this… but claims of this nature are being used to drive investment into hearing aids.
IF you wear your hearing aids constantly and at high but not painful levels, I personally find that without them, I then really have less ability to hear, as I have gotten used to the hearing aids.
I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing.