"I want to hear better but I don't want to pay for two hearing aids."

This is something I hear a lot and so I have my argument prepared. Imagine walking around with one eye covered. Sure, you'd probably get along but you would feel off-balanced, your range of vision would be limited, and your brain would need to work harder.

The ears were built as a pair. While there are exceptions (e.g. unilateral hearing loss), two ears are more effective working together than one ear working alone. Here are a few reasons why:

• Stereo versus mono and a wider range of hearing
• Stronger ability to weed out background noise
• Less strain on your system
• Increased ability to determine from where sounds are coming (sound localization)
• Better understanding of speech in the presence of noise (restaurants, meetings, small groups, etc.)
• More natural, less distorted sound quality
• Prevents the possibility of the residual hearing in your unaided ear from degenerating
• Better tolerance to loud sounds and/or tinnitus

I often advise patients that two hearing aids are better than one.  I'd rather a patient dropped down a technology level so s/he could afford two rather than buy one at a higher cost.