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I have small hands and when I started out I bought a full size dreadnought, not realizing there are other sizes! After a couple more downsizes, I settled on a parlor size with a 23.5″ scale length. The only problem with a parlor is it only has 12 frets to the body. There are 14 fret guitars with similar scale length, but I ran out of money for more guitars. I believe most 3/4 guitars are scaled down everywhere, so the neck can be too narrow for some. It is for me, I have one. If yours works for you, great!
As for following the videos with hearing issues–I can hear fine, but my brain delays or misses some things that may be spoken too quickly. I might stop and back up the video to that point to replay that section, but I don’t usually. Often someone will mention something Tony says in the comments, that I don’t recall hearing, so I usually read all the comments first, then I’m more likely to pick it up when I watch the video. Plus someone may mention a way they found to get around a difficult stretch, or whatever.
I’ve been tempted to give up more than once, but I do find I am improving. Especially since we get more than one shot at a particular challenge as most come around every year and the Benchmark challenges 4X a year.