Hearing aids are a significant investment, so in the event that you have experienced hearing loss in both ears, you naturally wonder, “Do I honestly need two hearing aids, or can I hear equally as well with only one?” Virtually all hearing industry professionals will state that the many benefits of using two hearing aids greatly outweigh the additional expense, but to be fair let’s begin with the reasons why some people don’t need two.
To start with, if you have hearing loss in only one ear but your hearing in the other is normal, you clearly do not need a second hearing aid. Similarly, if you are completely and irrecoverably deaf in one ear, wearing a hearing aid in that ear is not going to help. People that have chronic ear infections may opt for a single hearing aid to avoid aggravating the recurring infection. Or, if you have a specific form of hearing loss where the speech is heard garbled, a hearing aid in that ear may make your comprehension worse by amplifying the garbled speech. The case for wearing two hearing aids, except in these cases, is much stronger, and has been validated by surveys that show that most hearing aid users prefer wearing two aids to wearing only one. Wearing two hearing aids greatly improves your ability to detect the source and direction of the sound. Understanding speech has been proven to be much easier when wearing two hearing aids than when wearing one, especially when the listening environment is noisy.
If you have hearing loss in both ears, wearing two hearing aids will enable you to keep stimulating both ears, whereas wearing only one can allow the other ear to deteriorate further from lack of use. If you suffer from tinnitus or a ringing in both ears, wearing only one aid will allow the ringing in the other ear to continue. Finally, many studies have shown that wearing two hearing aids is less tiring than wearing only one.
All told, the case for wearing two hearing aids is more persuasive than the case for wearing only one. But if you still have your doubts, test it for yourself by making an appointment to see us. You will be able to hear the difference for yourself between one hearing aid and two. Then decide for yourself which provides you with the better hearing experience. We think you’ll decide that two is better than one.
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