Why Get Two Hearing Aids?

Better understanding of speech. Wearing two hearing aids helps your brain to focus on the conversation that you want to hear.
Better understanding in noisy situations.
Better ability to tell the direction of sound.
Better sound quality. Wearing two hearing aids provides a better sense of balance and sound quality.
Smoother tone quality. Wearing two hearing aids generally requires less volume than one. This can result in less distortion, better reproduction of amplified sounds, and less battery drain.
Wider range of hearing. A person can hear sounds from a further distance with two ears, rather than just one.
Better sound identification. Sounds are more easily distinguishable with two hearing aids.
Keeps both ears active. When there is a hearing loss in both ears, and only one ear is stimulated with a hearing aid, the other ear tends to lose its ability to hear and understand speech. Thus, it is important to keep both ears active.
Hearing is less tiring and listening is more pleasant. This is because you do not have to strain to hear with the “better” ear, like someone would with one hearing aid.
Greater comfort with loud sounds. A lower volume control setting is required with each of the two hearing aids, resulting in more tolerance of loud sounds.
Reduced feedback and whistling. Because the hearing aids will be set to a lower volume, the chance of hearing aid feedback is reduced.
Improvement in tinnitus. If someone is only fit with one hearing aid, then tinnitus will still be perceived in the unaided ear.
Client satisfaction. Research with more than 4000 people with hearing loss in both ears, demonstrated that binaurally fit subjects are more satisfied than people fit with just one hearing aid.

*Remember that hearing aids will not restore your hearing to normal.

Modified from the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Advantages of binaural amplification.

Resources and more information:
http://www.umm.edu/otolaryngology/two_hearing_aids.htm