“Should I wear 1 or 2 hearing aids?” This is a relatively common question originating from the fact that hearing aids are a significant investment.For the majority of cases, the many benefits of using two hearing aids surpass that added expense, but there are certain scenarios where this isn’t the best advice.

Obviously, if you have hearing loss in one ear but your hearing in the other ear is normal, you do not need two hearing aids. Similarly, if you are completely and irrecoverably deaf in one ear, wearing a hearing aid in that ear is not going to help. Some people experience chronic and recurring ear infections, which can in many cases be aggravated by hearing aids, so in this case wearing a single aid may be an advantage. Or, if you have a specific form of hearing loss where the speech is heard garbled, a hearing aid in that ear may make your comprehension worse by amplifying the garbled speech. The case for wearing two hearing aids, except in these cases, is much stronger, and has been validated by surveys that show that most hearing aid users prefer wearing two aids to wearing only one. Two hearing aids greatly enhance your ability to perceive the source of the sounds you hear, and provides a more realistically balanced sound. Understanding speech has been proven to be much easier when wearing two hearing aids than when wearing one, especially when the listening environment is noisy.

If you have hearing loss in both ears, wearing two hearing aids will enable you to keep stimulating both ears, whereas wearing only one can allow the other ear to deteriorate further from lack of use. If you suffer from tinnitus or a ringing in both ears, wearing only one aid will allow the ringing in the other ear to continue. Last but not least, clinical studies and customer surveys have shown that users find wearing two hearing aids much less tiring than wearing only one.

Collectively, there are numerous reasons why wearing two hearing aids is the better choice and only a few situation where a single one might be recommended. For many people making this decision, they need to experience the difference between one and two hearing aids first hand. You can test out the difference by scheduling an appointment to come see us. Experience tell us that you’ll probably agree that two are better than one.