Do I really need two hearing aids? Can I get by with just one?
The question of binaural (two ears) amplification comes up in just about every hearing aid and audiology office in the world - every day! It's an excellent question. You were born with two ears because you need two ears, the same is true for your eyes, arms, legs and kidneys.
What do I gain by wearing two hearing aids?
1. Keeps Both Ears Active, Resulting in Less Hearing Deterioration.
When only one hearing aid is worn, the unaided ear tends to lose its ability to hear and understand. This is due to auditory deprivation. People who wear two hearing aids keep both ears active.
To help understand this, imagine you were in a car accident and your leg muscle was damaged. Without proper therapy and muscle activity, your leg would continue to weaken and functionality would decrease. However, routine physical therapy can strengthen the muscle, helping to improve the overall strength. The muscle may never return to 100% strength, however, with proper therapy, further muscle atrophy can be diminished. Hearing sounds through hearing aids is like physical therapy for the auditory system.
2. Better Understanding of Speech
Wearing two allows your brain to focus on conversation you want to hear, therefore helping you with selective listening. Research shows that people wearing two hearing aids routinely understand speech and conversation significantly better than people wearing only one. With just one hearing aid, many noises and words sound alike. But with two units, as with two ears, sounds are more distinguishable.
3. Better Understanding in Group and Noisy Situations
When you wear two hearing devices, both the left and right ears are picking up similar sounds, and the brain can better filter out background noises, improving hearing in difficult listening situations.
4. Better Ability to Tell Direction of Sounds (Localization)
Localization allows you to hear from which direction someone is speaking to you, or hear which direction a car or siren is coming. The brain needs cues from both ears to properly interpret localization cues in the environment.
5. Better Sound Quality
Listening in "stereo" allows for the smoothest, sharpest, most natural sound quality. When you wear two, your hearing range is 360 degrees, versus only 180 degrees with one. This provides a better sense of balance and sound quality.
6. Less Distortion and Feedback (Whistling).
Wearing two aids generally means less volume is needed in each instrument. This results in less distortion and better reproduction of sounds. With lower volume setting, chances of feedback is reduced.
7. Wider Hearing Range
A true fact: a person can hear sounds from a further distance with two ears, rather than just one. A voice that is barely heard at 10 feet with one can be heard up to forty feet with two ears.
8. Hearing is Less Tiring and Listening More Pleasant
Listening and participating in conversation is more enjoyable with two instruments because you don't have to strain to hear with the better ear (less neurologically taxing).
9. Tinnitus Masking
Approximately 50% of people with ringing (tinnitus) in their ears report improvement when wearing hearing aids. The sounds from the hearing aid "mask" the ringing. Therefore, maximum reduction of ringing would be with two hearing aids.
People who have lost hearing in one ear will tell you it is VERY difficult to get by using only one ear. The quality and clarity of sound perceived with one ear is simply not as good as two ears. The brain depends on BOTH ears working together to tell the listener where the sound is coming from, how far away the sound is, and to help sort out speech from noise. Additionally, each ear is ''hard wired'' differently to the brain. For example, we know that the right ear is typically the dominant ear for speech sounds and it primarily sends information to the left side of the brain for sound processing and interpretation. Most people think of ''hearing'' as something that happens in the ears, but in reality, the BRAIN interprets the signals from the ears into sound. So, in many respects, we really don't fit the ears with hearing aids, we ultimately fit the brain.
Additionally, we know that children with unilateral hearing loss (hearing loss in one ear) are at a terrific disadvantage regarding academics. For example, one study indicated that children who had a unilateral hearing loss were TEN TIMES more likely to repeat a grade, as compared to children with two normal hearing ears. This study indicates to the importance of both ears, and the disadvantage of using just one.
So the bottom line is YES - two ears are better than one. Of course, there are exceptions, and there are certainly times when professionals recommend fitting only one ear for a variety of reasons. But in general, fitting both ears with amplification provides a better sound quality, better hearing noise, better hearing of soft sounds, better ability to tell where sounds are coming from, and higher satisfaction with hearing aids
Can you “get by” with one? Maybe. But chances are you’ll do much better with two
