So you’ve just been officially diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears… Many people in that situation ask their audiologist, “Do I have to wear 2 hearing aids?”
If you have hearing loss in both ears, really, the answer is yes. Or…you could get away with just one, but you will notice much more benefit by wearing 2 hearing aids. And I’ll tell you why.
Our ears are designed to work together. They each collect their own information to send to the brain, and our brain pieces it together to create one big picture. In order to localize sound, to figure out where it is coming from, we need two ears. Especially in background noise, having two ears to help pick out the speech among the noise will allow for the most understanding in challenging listening environments.
Just as our ears work together, hearing aids are designed to work together. Again, in background noise, two hearing aids will work best to reduce that noise and help you focus on someone speaking. Using the same concept and technology, hearing aids work together in this way to help localize sound.
Overall, wearing two hearing aids will be best for your overall health! Untreated hearing loss, or inadequately treated hearing loss, is associated with cognitive decline, social isolation, and even memory loss. Hearing aids can help with all of these things, as well as helping to keep your hearing loss stable! Hearing loss is generally progressive, and while it will likely continue to progress even with hearing loss, the rate of progression will be significantly slower.
If you would like more information, or are interested in learning more about hearing aids, please contact Gardner Audiology in Tampa Bay at 1-800-277-1182 or email info@gardneraudiology.com.
