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Ten Reasons To Wear Two Aids - Platinum Hearing Aids
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Ten Reasons To Wear Two Aids

Although, you can survive with just one ear (or one arm or one leg or one eye), life is ever so much easier and pleasant when you have both functioning properly. You gain many advantages from having two equally-functioning ears. Here are ten reasons why you should wear two hearing aids if you have a hearing loss in both ears.

1. Better localization

The ability to pinpoint the source of a sound is something we use everyday, though we most often do not even realize it. It happens automatically, at least when both ears are operating at peak performance levels. By wearing two hearing aids, you can better locate the source of sounds. Indeed, a person may save money by only buying one hearing aid, but they will also lose some or all of their ability to place the source of critical sounds. In the long run, it may actually cause confusion and frustration when money is wasted on a hearing aid that is not doing what a person expected it to do.

2. Less feedback from the hearing aid and better tolerance of sounds

If you wear two hearing aids, you can reduce the volume on both hearing aids by about 10 dB and still hear better and understand more than if you only wore one hearing aid. This reduces the total volume of sound assaulting your ears -- especially in noisy situations. An added benefit is that you will be able to tolerate louder sounds better with the lower volume setting. Furthermore, you will find that the sound quality improves since there is less distortion and better reproduction of amplified sounds at the lower volume setting. Since you don't need the volume as loud when you wear two hearing aids, you have a lesser chance of getting feedback in your hearing aids. Feedback is that annoying squealing or whistling that occurs when a hearing aid doesn't fit properly or when one hearing aid is trying to attain all the volume for two ears.

3. Reduction of Strain

Wearing two hearing aids is less tiring. This makes listening more pleasant. You can relax more while you are listening as you no longer have to strain to try to hear with only one ear. Listening with only one ear is not only tiring, but it is also difficult and frustrating. Try reading for an extended time with only one eye and you will see just how much harder it is. Hearing with one ear is just the same.

4. Preservation of Hearing

When you wear two hearing aids, you stimulate both ears equally. If you only wear one hearing aid, the other ear will not be stimulated. Some think that the ear with no stimulation may eventually lose its ability to hear and interpret sounds. Current research suggests that even if your ear doesn't lose auditory acuity over time from the lack of stimulation, there are still changes in the ways your brain processes sound when it does not hear from both ears equally. As a result, wearing two hearing aids provides the stimulation your brain needs in order to preserve and maximize the hearing you still have.

5. Tinnitus (Ear Noise) Masking

Wearing two hearing aids helps mask tinnitus (ringing in your ears). With one hearing aid, you can mask the tinnitus on the one side, but not normally in the unaided ear.

6. Better hearing in background noise

Your ability to separate speech from background noise also improves with the use of two hearing aids. Your brain is able to utilize speech and noise coming from both ears to appropriately filter out noise but still process speech. One of the biggest frustrations that we hear from those with hearing loss is not being able to understand in background noise. If only one ear is fit with a hearing aid, sound will be louder and possibly more understandable in a quiet environment, but understanding in the presence of background noise will still be significantly impaired. Many people with only one hearing aid report that they find it useless in noisy situations.

7. Safety

When a person hears with only one ear, the difficulty in locating sound can be dangerous, especially in traffic.

8. Better hearing acuity

We don't even hear in our ears. Actually, we "hear" in our brains. The hearing section of our brains use two ears to process the sounds that the ears pick up. Yes, our ears pick up sounds, but our brains are what actually hears/understands for us. People with hearing impairment don't just need to hear sounds, but need to understand the speech that is presented. Input coming from both ears, sends the signal to the brain to help us understand and provide clarity to the speech that the ears pick up. When input is coming from only one source (one ear), the clarity and understanding is not available and people will describe having difficulty understanding what is being said even while wearing one hearing aid.

9. Better range of hearing and more balanced sound

A person is able to hear sounds from a farther distance with two ears better than just one. If a voice that's barely heard at 10 feet away with one ear can be heard up to 40 feet with two ears. Two-eared hearing results in a feeling of a balanced sound.

10. Higher success and satisfaction

Studies indicate people who wear two hearing aids are much more satisfied with their hearing aids.