I guess back then Soviet Union was something of an abstract threat to American people, and vice versa. And today you can watch me playing :-) You must have been really young in 1957, quite a tough youth you had, but you turned out well.

I think the batteries will last longer after you get used to all new experiences and won't be using it that much. I wonder if you need hearing aids when you listen to something with headphones, perhaps some amplifier and a pair of good headphones can be sufficient, although I believe you have tried a lot of things and your new hearing aids are indeed very well adjusted.

ZA312 seem to be a very common batteries so even a battery a day looks like a reasonable cost for all the advantage you get.

Chas has surely pointed out a lot of interesting aspects. I can't really sleep without earplugs, and then I have to add some white noise, well, an apartment building in a city, what can you expect... But I'm not ready to live in a middle of a forest either, although it sounds very nice.