Are two hearing aids better than one?

Should I use one hearing aid or two? This is a question we hear often. The short answer is two ears are better than one. You were born with two ears for a reason after all. Think of it this way. Have you ever heard a person with one eye or leg say having one is better than two? If you have a hearing loss in both ears, wearing two aids provides a number of benefits.

In order to tell where sound is coming from you need two ears with equal hearing. This is because sounds reach the closest ear slightly before they reach the ear that is further away from the sound source. Your brain uses this slight time difference to process where the sound is coming from. Without the ability to localise sound it can be difficult to pick out a voice in a crowd or hear where traffic is coming from, a potentially dangerous situation.

One of the most common concerns for people with hearing loss is the difficulty they have following a conversation in the presence of background noise. Your brain uses input from both ears to supress unwanted background noise and to separate speech from background noise. Also, with one hearing aid you have to turn the volume up higher, which also makes the background noise louder. Having two hearing aids allows you to keep the volume lower, so you hear less of the background noise.

The auditory system is designed to pick up sound from both ears. Hearing is much more comfortable and natural with two hearing aids versus one. So, the bottom line is, if you have hearing loss in both ears and could benefit from hearing aids: two are better than one.

If you have questions about your hearing or would like to schedule a hearing test please contact us at 423-7734 in Halifax or 252-3004 in Lower Sackville.