“I Am Deaf In One Ear But Don’t Want Surgery. Is There Any Other Help For Me?”

Single Sided Deafness (SSD) is the term used when one ear is deaf. It can also be used to refer to a condition when one ear has some residual hearing but is not useable or practically deaf. There are several possible causes for SSD. These include trauma, viral infection, acoustic neuroma (tumor on the eight nerve), autoimmune disease, stroke, and, recently, CoVid 19.
When one ear becomes deaf or nonfunctional, the ability to locate the source of sound whether right or left, front or back is lost.

Several years ago, the treatments for SSD were limited to hearing aids that are connected via wires. These wires would often get tangled or detached. Users often find them bulky and cumbersome to wear. For these reasons, they were unpopular. Fortunately, hearing aid technology has improved dramatically over the years. Single Sided Deafness can now be treated with wireless hearing aids that use bluetooth technology.

The hearing aids used to treat SSD are called Cros or Bicros hearing aids. In a Cros or Bicros setup, both the poor ear and the good ear are fit with hearing aidsma. The poor ear is fit with a hearing aid that acts as a transmitter while the hearing aid in the good ear acts as the receiver. The sound picked up by the transmitter on the poor ear is routed to the good ear for processing.
If the good ear has normal hearing, Cros hearing aids are used. But if the good ear has some degree of hearing loss BiCros hearing aids are used.

In fitting Cros of Bicros hearing aids, it is important to note that the ability to tell the direction of the sound can not be restored since essentially only one ear, the good ear, is hearing. However, sound awareness will again be possible on the side of the poor ear.

The Hearing Clinic in Thibodaux Louisiana has partnered with several leading manufacturers to provide patients with the most advanced and latest Cros and Bicros wireless hearing aids.