Have you ever wondered why we have two ears instead of one? We don’t say two is better than one without reason.
Try to tie your shoes with one hand or close one of your eyes and try to read. Just like attempting those tasks with one hand, hearing is the same. It is extremely difficult if we are using only one ear… Plus – we don’t use glasses with just one lens do we?
Two ears really are more natural. Why do you think humans have two ears?
Basically, it is to widen the scope of your hearing so you can find out where sounds are coming from, and from what distance. In reality it is not your ears that do the listening, but your brain. And to interpret sounds correctly, the information it receives must be as accurate and as detailed as possible.
There are a many benefits when listening with two ears:
- We hear speech better when there is background noise
- It’s a more natural sound that we perceive with two hearing aids
- Better speech discrimination and clarity
- Improved localization (to know where sound is coming from)
- Both ears stay in shape and keeping your brain fit, because we all know, if you don’t use it, you lose it!
- Better sound quality
- Communicating with confidence
- Comfort is key – with one hearing aid we make the sound much louder than it should be to compensate for the other ear – two ears are just easier!
Studies have shown hearing aid users wearing two hearing aids are more satisfied in comparison to the users only wearing one. The difference is that the users with two hearing aids perceive the sound as more natural and find communication in groups easier.
This video explains it better!
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*Authors: Marike Haasbroek & Yolande van der Westhuizen (YVDW Audiologists)*