Two Ears ARE Better than One

Being able to hear with both ears is just as important as being able to see with both eyes. If you have difficulty hearing with both ears, you will almost certainly benefit from a binaural fitting - that is, wearing a hearing instrument in each ear.

The most important benefits of wearing two hearing instruments are:

• your ability to localize sounds will improve
• it will be easier to understand speech in noisy surroundings
• the risk of "auditory deprivation" is considerably reduced
• you will experience a fuller, more comfortable sound

Why do people have 2 ears? Because the brain needs input from both ears to tell us which direction sounds are coming from. Think about a car honking its horn, for example. Our ears alert us to the danger, sending sound signals to the brain. Within a split second the brain compares the information received from both ears - such as the power and intensity of the sound wave, and how long it to reach each ear. This tells us instantly which direction the care is coming from, and how far away it is.

Background noise makes it difficult to follow what people are saying. For people who don't hear equally well with both ears, it suddenly becomes much harder to separate individual voices from background noise. The brain needs input from both ears in order to separate sounds effectively.

Another risk that is significantly reduced by wearing two hearing aids is the risk of auditory deprivation. This is when the brain gradually loses some of its ability to process information from the unaided ear because of a continued lack of sound stimulation. Auditory deprivation most often occurs when the ear goes unaided over a long period of time - so the earlier you consider wearing two hearing instruments, the better your chances are of minimizing this risk.

If you hear equally well with both ears, sounds are more comfortable to listen to. You don't have to strain to hear, and sounds have the kind of clarity and depth which give you a sense of space and volume. Imagine listening to your favorite program on the stereo. It has two amplifiers and two speakers, to give music and speech a natural depth. However, if only one amplifier and speaker is working, the sounds become shallow and flat.