If you find you only have hearing difficulties in one ear, you may be wondering why you need two hearing aids. Though it simply seems like it’s something extra that you don’t need to pay for, the reality is that, in the long run, two hearing aids can significantly support your hearing health.

To help you understand, here are five reasons why most people are better off with two hearing aids.

1. Prevent Hearing Changes in the Unaided Ear
When you only wear one hearing aid, your unaided ear doesn’t receive the same amount of stimulation. It can also cause ear strain since your one ear will be working harder to hear. We naturally need both ears, similar to how reading with one eye is tiring.

2. Better Sound Quality and Clarity
Even though one hearing aid can amplify sounds just fine, you may still need both hearing aids to improve sound quality and clarity. Conversations may be less clear, especially when there is a lot of background noise.
A study we found stated that two hearing aids helped increase speech perception by 5% compared to unilateral amplification.

3. Help Your Brain Process Sounds
Although the ears pick up the sounds, the brain processes these sounds to make sense of them. Our brains determine which sounds are important signals and can find it difficult without the loudness and clarity from both ears. For example, suppose someone speaks into your unaided ear. In that case, their voice may be softer than the background noise, making it harder for your brain to identify the voice as significant.

4. Improve Localisation of Sounds
Two hearing aids also help your brain identify the location from which specific sounds are coming (localisation). The brain uses sound frequency, loudness, and time to travel through the ears to help identify a sound’s location. If sounds are louder in one ear, it can be harder for your brain to accomplish this.

5. Offers Better Balance
Even if you only have hearing changes in one ear, you may feel off balance when using only one hearing aid. With two hearing aids programmed to provide each ear with the same level of amplification, you can gain a greater sense of equality.

We would love to see you and discuss your hearing needs, please get in touch with Neil and the team today for your hearing evaluation or ear wax removal appointment. Schedule a hearing test today to learn more about your hearing aid options. Contact us here.