The Difference Between Wearing One Hearing Aid or Two

Hearing aids are a major investment, so if you have experienced hearing loss in both ears, you naturally think, “Do I actually need two hearing aids, or could I hear equally as well with only one?” Most hearing professionals will state that the benefits of using two hearing aids greatly exceed the additional expense, but to be fair let’s begin with the reasons why some individuals don’t require two.

To start with, if your hearing is fully normal in one ear, you clearly do not need a second hearing aid for that ear. Conversely, if you are totally 100% deaf in one ear, there is no point in having a second hearing aid. If you are prone to recurring ear infections, wearing hearing aids can potentially make the situation worse, so wearing a single aid might be an advantage. 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. Except for these cases, the arguments for wearing two hearing aids are pretty persuasive, and are validated by surveys of consumer preferences and customer satisfaction – most hearing aid users vastly prefer the binaural sound provided by two hearing aids. 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. For tinnitus sufferers, two hearing aids are almost always the wisest choice because the hearing aid is used to mask the ringing or buzzing sounds associated with tinnitus. Without the second hearing aid, these sounds continue in the other ear. Not surprisingly, consumer research studies have shown that wearing two hearing aids is less mentally tiring than wearing one.

Collectively, there are numerous reasons why wearing two hearing aids is the better choice and only a few situation where a single one might be recommended. 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.