I have had trouble with my ears all my life recurring inner and middle ear infections in both ears, and had grommets once as a toddler and again in my teens. Both eardrums are scarred from the repeated perforations of the eardrum. My right is significantly worse than my left, and never fails to draw comment from any new Dr checking my ears (which happens routinely due to other health concerns). Thankfully the "permanent perforation" to the very edge of my right eardrum, tucked in against a bone and supported by scar tissue so it didn't heal itself (but was inoperable due to location) has closed. I had that for almost 10 years, and it was not pleasant!
Due to the scarring, I have some minor hearing loss, though nowhere near as much as the scars would indicate. I'm very lucky. My biggest problem is being able to hear someone talking with noise - even background tv or music. I can't process the different sounds properly, and rely on lip reading and guesswork to fill in the blanks or work out what was really said vs what I heard. The hearing loss itself is very minor, and my lip reading is a skill I've extended from my training to work with children. I haven't had any special lessons on how to lip read, though I'd be very interested in taking some.
Most people are willing to repeat what they just said when I ask, as I frequently do. For random comments from strangers on the street I'll often just smile and walk on. If I'm with someone I'll ask them what was said after we've moved away, as it's very frustrating for me to hear partial words and not know what was said. With people I know, I persist in trying to understand what was said that I missed and/or misunderstood. I say "can you please repeat that?" when I literally need the exact words repeated so I can untangle the sounds I heard. After several attempts if I still haven't gotten it, I say "what did you mean?"or "did you mean ____?" if I have been able to guess the key words. It's amazing how often people just rephrase when asked to repeat something..
My partner is the worst for this. In his work (IT), wording like that almost always means "rephrase so I can understand" so he defaults to doing exactly that. Which just gives me another set of sounds to untangle, the opposite of helpful. Even when I've worked out what was meant, I still need to know what the actual words said were, to have a better chance at recognising them next time. That, and it just drives me batty to have those partial words with gaps that I can't fill in!
Enunciation is very important to me, as I literally can't hear words that aren't enunciated properly. So I speak very clearly, which is perfect for my profession. I'm also excellent at comprehending young children, even those with significant speech issues. We think that's largely because I'm physically closer to them at the time, and by crouching or sittin down I'm naturally reducing the background noise that gets in my way normally when at the level of adults (standing or sitting). That's the best answer the Dr's had, anyway.
Bodies are weird lol! And we don't know how much we take ours for granted until something goes wrong..
I hope your hearing issue and any pain clears up asap OP.
Hugs to you and your mom! 
