Call Us: (816) 875-3615

Visit one of Four Convenient Locations

4657 Blue Ridge Blvd Kansas City, MO 64133 (816) 875-3615

10000 Wornall Rd. Kansas City, MO 64114

(816) 875-5715 941 W. 75th Street Overland Park, KS 66204 (913) 534-8873

1001 NW Chipman Rd #117 Lees Summit, MO 64081

(816) 875-4520 BetterHearingKC

Two Hearing Aids are Better than One

Has your hearing healthcare professional recommended the

purchase of two hearing aids for your hearing loss? If you have

hearing loss bilaterally (in both ears), this is probably your best

option! There are a number of beneficial reasons to choose two

aids over one.

Natural, normal hearing occurs bilaterally. This type of hearing is

called “binaural” hearing. Sound picked up by both ears is

conducted through the ear and sent to the brain for coding. In

the brain there is a cross-over and combining of information from both ears that allows

for a complete picture of the sound heard. For this reason, when bilateral hearing loss is

present, your hearing healthcare professional is likely to recommend binaural (two ear)

amplification.

There are many other reasons for this recommendation. One plus one equals three in

these cases because of all of the advantages of binaural listening! Having both ears work

in conjunction allows for a richer, fuller sound with an actual boost in volume. A boost in

volume allows for less need to increase the actual volume control of your aids,

preventing unnecessary distortion. This proves to improve sound quality greatly! There

is greater ease of listening in noisier environments and in environments where much

echo is present. The signal to noise ratio is also improved by the use of two hearing

instruments.

The sound of interest (e.g. person you are speaking with) appears louder than the noise

in the background, as the signal to noise ratio is improved by 2-3 dB. This is especially

helpful to those with the complaint of difficulty hearing in noisy situations! This can

improve speech understanding greatly! An effect called the “head shadow” effect is

Call Us: (816) 875-3615

Visit one of Four Convenient Locations

4657 Blue Ridge Blvd Kansas City, MO 64133 (816) 875-3615

10000 Wornall Rd. Kansas City, MO 64114

(816) 875-5715 941 W. 75th Street Overland Park, KS 66204 (913) 534-8873

1001 NW Chipman Rd #117 Lees Summit, MO 64081

(816) 875-4520 BetterHearingKC

eliminated by binaural amplification. When listening with only one “good” ear, a listener

often make certain the good or better ear is near the sound source. However, when

listening in a large group, this is not always the case. Thus, the head “shadows” the

sound from being received fully at the ear furthest away from the sound source. The

good ear may end up being farthest from away causing hearing difficulty.

If you have an ear with little to no hearing and your other ear has normal hearing, or if

you have hearing loss in both ears, but one side is severe enough that traditional

hearing devices are not an option, there are solutions for you! There are special binaural

hearing instruments called Contralateral Routing of Signal (CROS) and Bilateral Routing

of Signal (BICROS) aids that may help! These aids allow useful access to binaural

hearing.

If there is normal hearing in one ear and an unaidable hearing loss in the other ear (or

dead ear) a CROS hearing instrument may be appropriate. For those with an aidable loss

in one ear and an unaidable loss in the other ear, a BICROS hearing instrument would

be more appropriate. The CROS and BICROS work in similar ways by picking up sound

from the worse or dead ear and sending that sound to the better ear. The major

difference is that BICROS aids not only pick up sound from the “bad” ear and deliver it

to the “good” ear, but they also work as normal hearing aids for the ear with an aidable

loss.