The fact that audiologists recommend wearing two hearing aids to people with bilateral hearing challenges makes perfect sense. A person’s ears, the auditory nerves, and the brain all work together to block out unwanted noise and enable one to pay close attention to what he or she wants to hear.

It makes a lot of sense that two hearing aids will serve you far better than one, especially if you have hearing challenges in both ears. This idea is fully supported by years of extensive research in the area of central auditory system. Below are 4 good reasons why you should use two hearing aids instead of just one.

1. Improved clarity

Oftentimes, people discover that they are unable to hear clearly under normal circumstances. The sound perceived may be blurred and background noises may prevent the ability to fully receive and understand speech. This in essence means that you will be unable to respond appropriately and that effective communication between you and the other person will not be fully possible. This in itself is a very good reason for you to seek treatment for the hearing impairment.

With two hearing aids, your reception of speech from another person will be greatly improved. This improvement in hearing clarity means that you will make a good partner in any scenario where communication is necessary.

2. Better direction finding

People with normal hearing are very good at sound localization, which refers to finding the direction from which a sound comes. They can turn their heads to get the source of a sound with relative ease. This is an important ability as they can easily perceive a source of danger and react promptly to save themselves. Sound localization does not come easily for anyone with some degree of hearing impairment. Many individuals with deafness on only one side know the kind of challenges they face as they try to execute every day routine activities.

A simple task like driving through traffic can easily turn disastrous if you are unable to accurately decipher where certain sounds (like police or ambulance sirens) are coming from. Research has shown that wearing two hearing aids can restore the harmony in the ears to enable good sound localization, enabling you to execute routine tasks with ease.

3. To prevent auditory deprivation

Any part of the body stays fit by the regular exercise of its function. With constant use, the part of the body remains healthy and will not weaken over time. This is very true when it comes to our ears as well. When they do not perceive sound on a regular basis, they will fall into disuse and may fail to carry out their function even when exposed to sound that is very loud. This is a phenomenon that audiologists refer to as auditory deprivation.

If left unchecked, the ears will eventually be unable to decode any sound a given environment. Having two hearing aids in this scenario will allow both ears to be regularly exposed to environmental sound and they will therefore not fall into disuse.

4. Improved amplification

When both ears perceive the same sound at the same time, the sound is louder and clearer than when received only by one ear. The listener with binaural hearing aids will be able to distinguish frequencies and determine whether they are in a tranquil or noisy environment.

The listener will therefore be able to understand speech and perform better when communicating with others. This cannot be said of a monaural individual, who would have to grapple with the need to increase the power and turn up the volume in an attempt to clearly perceive the sound.