My wife suffers from some high frequency hearing loss and a constant ringing in her ears. She has always had issues with dialog intelligibility. I went from the VP150 to the VP180 and it was better, but the biggest improvement came when I added acoustical panels to my room in order to reduce flutter echo from the sound from the speakers just bouncing all around the room. While I treated the whole room (and could even go further with the treatments) putting a panel at the first reflection point on the right and left walls in relationship to the center channel (which in my case also happens to help with the front left and right channels as well) the ability to hear people speaking has dramatically improved.
We used to have to hold on to the remote and adjust the volume up and down between loud action scenes and talking scenes in my previous theater spaces. Not as much in my current space (I have the whole front wall behind my screen and speakers already treated and went to the VP180), but those 2" OC703 filled 24" x 48" panels that have a 1.5" air gap behind them did wonders.
Now, I have a dedicated space which makes that easier, but if you are even remotely OK with DIY, you can have custom art printed on fabric for some panels that can fit just about any decor. I have been quite active over at AVS with testing of fabric types (just ordered a new fabric type sample tonight even though I am done making my panels) and they are really cheap and easy vs. paying for some company to make them.
If you decide that you can put some sort of panels up in your space, let me know and I can help to guide you with how to construct them and get the artwork printed for a really inexpensive price.
