Binaural vs. Monaural Hearing Aids

The terms monaural and binaural refer to one ear or two ears. An example of clinical use for these terms would be, the patient was found to have a binaural hearing loss, binaural amplification was recommended, however, the patient has opted for monaural amplification at this time.

Solution

• A binaural hearing loss is a hearing loss in both ears. During a hearing test, both ears are tested. If both ears test positive for hearing loss, binaural hearing aids are recommended.

  Binaural hearing aids shouldn’t be recommended to treat a monaural hearing loss. Hearing loss affecting only one ear is considered monaural.

  In cases where one ear is deaf and one ear has hearing loss; you have monaural hearing because you can only hear out of one ear. Only one hearing aid is needed.

Effects

• Our ears are naturally designed to work together to perceive sound. Binaural hearing helps us understand speech clearer, locate sounds and hear better in noise. As you lose your hearing, all three of those functions become compromised.

Expert Insight

• If you have a hearing loss in both ears and choose to only wear one hearing aid, you will still struggle with speech clarity, direction of sound and hearing in noise.

Function

• Our auditory system is designed to transmit signals to the brain for sound processing. The brain uses sound from both ears simultaneously to hear. When one ear is deaf the brain goes without any stimulus from that ear and adapts to monaural sound processing. In this case, wearing one hearing aid is very beneficial.

Considerations

• Having hearing in one ear is better than having hearing loss in both ears. If the choice is between wearing one hearing aid or none, one is better than none.