My Father-in-law is 94 and has not used his various hearing aids as he "finds them useless" and he has been reluctant to visit Hearing Aid Centres to find a solution.
As an experiment, I purchased a "Pocket Talker Pro" for him and he will use that with a little gentle nudge. When we take him out now, we need to remind him to take it with him which he mostly does, and it has become so much more rewarding to communicate with him.
We still communicate in bursts rather than flowing conversations, but the device has been extremely useful when visiting Drs, Dentists, shopping, etc.
USA website
Brisbane Supplier website
I think I paid approx. Au $380.00.
When he puts on the headphones, it effectively drowns out the outside noise so he can more clearly hear us as we speak into the mike.
In a small group situation, we place the mike unit on the table and make sure we speak to it so he can hear us.
Cheers
Dennis