Some people buy one hearing aid to save money. But wearing one device only provides you with half of your soundscape.
Wearing two hearing aids allows you to connect with the world around you more completely and provides your brain with essential auditory stimulation.
What Happens When You Wear One Hearing Aid
You may have different degrees of hearing loss in your ears. Wearing only one hearing aid won’t prevent head shadow, which occurs when your head blocks sound to your stronger ear.
You also place a greater strain on your ear without the hearing aid if you don’t wear two. Sound is amplified and clarified for one ear, but the other must continue to work harder to hear.
Why You Should Wear Two Hearing Aids
Better Sound Quality
Hearing aids make sounds louder and clearer. Wearing two of them delivers a wider range of sounds and contributes to a more natural listening experience.
That reduces the effort your ears have to make to convert sound waves into electrical signals for your brain. And that prevents auditory deprivation, which occurs when your ears lose their ability to distinguish between sounds.
Improved Sound Localization
Your ears work together to identify the source of a sound. That awareness of your surroundings improves your safety, especially when you’re driving with hearing loss.
Hearing aids provide you with an extra boost to help you identify where sounds originate. That’s important if you’re speaking with someone in a noisy environment. You’ll have an easier time identifying and listening to a speaker if you have two devices interpreting auditory stimuli.
Enhanced Speech Comprehension
When you have hearing loss, differentiating speech from background noise can be difficult. As the loss progresses, your brain becomes less effective at distinguishing different sounds. That can make it hard to understand speech even if the speaker is talking loudly.
Struggling to understand others may cause you to withdraw from or avoid socializing completely, increasing your risk of isolation and depression.
Wearing two devices improves auditory processing. Your brain won’t work as hard to filter background noise, allowing you to focus on speech.
Tinnitus Relief
Any ringing or buzzing in your ears is caused by damage to the inner ears’ hair cells that send sound signals to your brain. Consistent auditory stimulation can alter your perception of the severity of the ringing in your ears.
Some hearing aids have masking features to treat tinnitus. And because hearing aids increase the volume of sounds in general, you may be less likely to notice your tinnitus while wearing your devices.
Better Long-Distance Hearing
Wearing a pair of hearing aids also allows your ears to work together to improve long-distance hearing. They’re especially helpful if you have high-frequency hearing loss since high-frequency sounds don’t travel as far as their low-frequency counterparts. You’ll have a better understanding of your surroundings and improve your spatial awareness.
Find Your Hearing Aids at Hearing Associates
Get started on your journey to better hearing at Hearing Associates. We offer a wide variety of hearing aid styles and brands to suit your unique needs. Call 888-760-2032 or schedule your appointment online.