Hearing Therapy Australia

Advantages of binaural hearing aids.

Two ears hear better than one.
Two hearing aids enable you to have a more balanced sound.
With binaural hearing aids there is more likelihood of hearing where sound is coming from especially when you have the same hearing loss in both ears.
You can have your hearing aids on at a lower volume than if you wear only one hearing aid, therefore you put less stress on your hearing. The sound quality is also more natural.
There is less chance of feedback into the hearing aid if the hearing aids are at a lower volume. (If turned up high a hearing aid might whistle and people complain). This is neither good for the hearing aid or for hearing. This would be more the case with an analogue hearing aid than a digital hearing aid.
Clarity is improved when wearing two hearing aids.
Speech recognition is improved when wearing two hearing aids.
If two hearing aids are fitted within a short space of time, the ears get used to them . If only one hearing aid is fitted and at a much later date a second aid is needed in order to hear properly, the ear that was not fitted may experience acute distortion and take a relatively long time to adjust. The unused ear may lose its ability to hear and understand.
If you have tinnitus, two hearing aids will often reduce tinnitus awareness and usually make the tinnitus softer. If only one hearing aid is fitted you may find that the tinnitus sounds louder in the ear that has no hearing aid.
Listening to the TV or using a loop system, you have a stereo effect with two hearing aids. Hi fi may also sound better.
If you have a moderate to severe or profound hearing loss you may hear very little with only one hearing aid. Two hearing aids will maximise your hearing ability.
If one of your hearing aids needs repairing you will still have one to manage with.
It is safer to use two hearing aids so that the direction of sound especially of traffic is picked up.
There is a wider range of sound to be heard with two hearing aids, for instance, a voice barely heard at 3 metres with one hearing aid may be heard at 12 metres with two.
Sounds that may not easily be identified by one ear can often easily be identified by two.
The wearing of two hearing aids dispenses with the social difficulty of always having to have people talk to you on your hearing side.
Using less power means less background interference.

Contraindications to binaural hearing aids.

Financial restraints - two hearing aids cost twice as much.
No hearing in one ear.
Infection primarily in one ear. However, if you are prone to infections in both ears and you have the same level of hearing loss in both ears, you may consider asking your audiologist to make ear moulds for both ears so that you can wear your hearing aid in the healthiest ear.
Manual dexterity on one side. It may not be possible to put a hearing aid into the ear on one side due to paralysis e.g. through stroke or accident preventing a person from inserting their earmould on one side.
Congenital malformation. Some people are born with only one ear canal or other deformity.
Too much distortion, though if people are prepared to persevere, this can sometimes be overcome. Hearing aids may need special adjustment and tuning for some time after fitting. Even people who have not worn hearing aids for 30 years after acquired hearing loss have learnt to adjust to hearing aids in time.
Mental inability to cope with two hearing aids. Some people struggle with one hearing aid and two is just beyond them.
Dysfunction of the central auditory system. The brain gets confused with more than one set of information. This would be discovered from a speech audiogram.
Asymmetrical hearing loss, where hearing is very different in both ears. Some people find that two hearing aids are uncomfortable in this situation, others may benefit from having two hearing aids, each aid being adjusted to give the independent ears more similar hearing. The outcome is very individual and only trial will indicate whether a person will benefit from binaural hearing aids or not in this situation.