I've worn hearing aids for about 15 years or so; currently I use in-ear ones so I can listen on headphones, too. It is absolutely true that hearing aids cannot bring back hearing you've permanently lost; they alter the 'curve' so it seems like more highs than are actually there.
Faulty hearing.
My left ear drum was damaged in a rapid decompression incident while in the Air Force in 64. For reasons unknown to me, it just got very bad recently. It's worse than bad hearing in both ears.
I did all kinds of trouble shooting trying to find out what was wrong with my left channel before I discovered it was my left ear. Now I want some new equipment, but I'm not buying any thing until my hearing problem is corrected.
My question to you is, have you, or anyone that you have known, had hearing problems corrected?