Benefits of binaural hearing

Humans naturally have the ability to hear in both ears i.e binaural hearing. Sound signals from left ear are processed in the right side of the brain and signals from right ear are processed in the left side of the brain. Usually, most individuals have bilateral hearing loss i.e hearing loss on both ears. If hearing loss occur in only one ear and the other ear is normal, further detailed diagnostics procedure is required as it may happen due other severe underlying medical complication.

Very often, when an individual is diagnosed with hearing loss on both ears, they prefer to treat only the poor ear. But it is not as simple as treating the poor ear. Audiologists will ask you to wear hearing aid on both ears or in some cases only one ear.

In general, while wearing hearing aids on both ears (Binaural Fitting), both the hemispheres of the brain will work together to get the following benefits.

1. Your speech understanding will be superior & effortless as both parts of your brain will process the sounds.
2. You feel more balanced and the sound reception will be smooth.
3. You will have better ability to pick soft sounds.
4. You can hear and understand speech from a further distance.
5. You will have better understanding in noisy situations.
6. You ability to pay attention to one voice and ignoring others is improved.
7. You will be able to easily locate where the sound is coming from i.e localization benefits
8. If you wear only one hearing aid, the unaided ear will gradually lose the ability to understand and hear. This is clinically known as Auditory deprivation.

Discuss in detail with your Audiologist on what is more suitable for you and understand the long term impacts if you are deciding against the recommendation of an audiologist.