http://budurl.com/amermanhattanbeach One of the more common questions I am asked as an Audiologist is whether two hearing aids are necessary.

1. Do I Really Need Two Hearing Aids?
One of the more common questions I am
asked as an Audiologist is whether two
hearing aids are necessary. If you have
hearing loss in both ears, known as
bilateral hearing loss, you are more than
likely to benefit from hearing aids in
both ears. There are some good reasons
to NOT wear hearing aids in both ears: no hearing loss in one ear,
very poor hearing in one ear, very poor word understanding in
one ear, for example.
Your hearing healthcare provider is the best person to help you
decide whether you should be wearing one hearing aid or two.
Price, however, should never be a reason to wear only one
hearing aid. I tell my patients I’d much rather they purchase a
lower cost pair than a single high-end hearing aid, if cost is the
issue.
Imagine buying a Mercedes Benz and only purchasing two tires,
or glasses with only one lens or only one shoe. We have two ears
for a reason and there are things that the ears can do when
working together that they cannot do when working alone. Let
me share with you some of the reasons why two hearing aids are
better than one.
Better understanding of speech

2. By wearing two hearing aids instead of just one, you may notice
you can better focus in on one speaker in a difficult listening
situation where multiple people are talking at the same time. In
other words, your brain can focus in on the conversation you
want to hear. Research shows that wearing two hearing aids
significantly improves speech understanding in noise compared to
people who wear only one hearing aid.
Better ability to tell where sounds are coming from
Being able to tell where sounds are coming from is called
localization and is one of the more important functions of binaural
hearing. Suppose you drop something on the floor and it rolls
away from you. Equal hearing between the ears will allow you to
better determine where the object you dropped actually went.
More importantly, localization helps you determine from which
direction a siren is coming in traffic. Localization can be very
important to your safety.
Better sound quality
When sound enters the ears and is then passed up the hearing
system to the brain, the brain completes what is called binaural
summation. Binaural summation means that sound is actually
much louder than the sum of the individual ears once it is
processed by the brain. For a simple word picture to explain this:
one plus one does not equal two when we’re talking about
binaural sound processing in the brain, it’s more like one plus one
equals three and a half.
This summation improves the volume of the sound but also gives
the perception of “stereo” sound quality. By wearing two hearing
aids, you also increase your hearing range from 180 degrees

3. reception with just one amplified ear to 360 degrees (surround
sound).
Keep both ears active
Research has shown that when only one hearing aid is worn, the
ear without a hearing aid tends to lose its ability understand
clearly. This is the old adage, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”
In Audiology, we call this auditory deprivation. Wearing two
hearing aids is important in order to keep both ears active.
When most of my patients ask if they can “get by” with one
hearing aid, my answer is yes, you can “get by”.
But it’s not the best solution for most hearing losses and can
often aggravate some of the more common reasons for getting a
hearing aid in the first place, like wanting to hear better in noise.
Before you decide on one hearing aid, try two. I’m positive you’ll
be convinced that two is better than one.
For More Information Binaural Hearing, Call American Hearing &
Balance At: (310) 773-4453
Or
Visit Us At:
http://www.hearing-aids-manhattan-beach-ca.com/