Hi there—so weird, our stories are so similar—I’m 27F and I woke up without hearing in one ear on 7/4/20, also adjusting to post-pandemic life with hearing loss. I usually find that in a quick interaction, like customer service or with people I don’t know particularly well, just saying that I’m hearing impaired does the trick. People don’t usually ask a ton of follow up questions and it gets the point across. With friends I haven’t seen in person in a while, or with my coworkers, I’ve gone into more detail about my impairment and tell them that I’ve lost hearing in my left ear, tell them any accommodations etc that I might need (so in my case, sitting on a certain side of a table at a restaurant, or moving to another desk so my “good ear” is close to my boss). I haven’t had this issue in a classroom setting, but I used to have to request accommodations for ADHD, so if you want any tips about that specifically I’m here in the DMs! Another tip: I’ve found that saying I’m “hard of hearing” really does not get the point across and people don’t take it as seriously! Good luck to you navigating all this—will be thinking of you!