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Do I Need One or Two?

Overall, binaural listening is more comfortable, natural and effective

There are many reasons to use two hearing instruments (a "binaural" fit) instead of one. The most fundamental reason is that you have two ears.

A binaural hearing aid system consists of two complete hearing aids so that each ear is provided with its own separate microphone, amplifier and receiver. A system that provide sound to each ear but uses only one microphone cannot supply all the benefits of true binaural hearing.

The benefit of binaural fitting, in suitable cases, greatly exceeds that of monaural by providing more natural “balance” hearing with advantages of :

• Improved localization of the sound
• Improved sense of distance from the sound source
• Binaural frequency advantage

Your brain is accustomed to processing sound from both sides of your head. It's no wonder, then, that balancing the loudness of sounds entering both your ears works better than using just one ear.

Test comparisons show that people with hearing instrument in both ears can distinguish words better than those with one instrument, and hear sounds from a greater distance. They also have a much greater ability to tell which direction sounds are coming from.

Furthermore, using just one instrument creates a "head shadow effect," in which sounds lose their intensity by having to go around a person's head to the amplified ear.

Head shadow effect : The head blocks the passage of high frequency sound waves, preventing them from being heard on the other side. With monaural loss, high frequency from the deaf side will therefore tend not to reach the good ear.