One or two hearing aids?

We have two ears for a reason. The human brain often better understands and interprets what it hears when sounds arrive at it from both ears. If you have poor hearing in both ears, consider a 60-day trial period with binaural (both ears) amplification. If you determine that the extra benefit of two aids does not justify the cost, return one of the aids at the end of the period and keep the other one.

Most people with a hearing loss will have similar loss levels in both ears, as your ears are a pair and they are the same age, they will have been exposed to the same lifestyle and hereditary.  Best advice for a binaural hearing loss (hearing loss on both sides) is to wear a pair of hearing aids instead of simply aiding one side only.  There are many measurable benefits of wearing aids on both ears the main ones are listed below:-

Localisation – The reason we have two ears on either side of our head is to help us determine the direction sound is coming from.   Way back in the days when we were required to hunt for our own food and use our wits to survive, this localisation would have been an essential tool to survival.  In the present day it is, nonetheless, as important.  For instance, if cannot instantly locate the direction of sound we may find it difficult to hear where traffic is coming from.

Improved Speech Understanding – By receiving incoming sound signals from both sides we are helping our brains to build up a better sound scape.  Our brain processes the input from both ears and merges the signals together to give us a fuller understanding.  If the input is coming largely from one side, the brain is having to fill in many more gaps of information.

Hearing in Noise – Hearing in noise is difficult at the best of times but with the input coming in from predominately one side, this process is even more challenging.  By having input from both sides the brain is able to separate the sounds more effectively.

Ability to Hear More – Simply by wearing two hearing aids you are able to hear more and so as a result, each hearing aid is able to be set at a slightly lower level to provide increased comfort and wear-ability.

Restful Hearing – Wearing two hearing aids can promote greater well being and be less fatiguing than wearing just one.

Balanced Sound – Binaural hearing can provide a mor “balanced” and natural sound quality than monaural listening.

Active Ears – When only one hearing aid is used, the aided ear tends to maintain its ability to understand speech and interpret sound while the unaided ear slowly loses these ability over time.

Tinnitus Relief – Many people that are using two aids claim that their tinnitus is less intrusive when wearing two aids instead of just one.

Listening in the Car – When two hearing aids are used, an individual can hear whether he or she is the passenger or the driver.