I have a very similar loss in my right ear as you do. I have been trialing several HAs over the past few months, and was also debating just one side vs. both. I have found that the brand makes a little bit of difference on how balanced or unbalanced it can feel with just having one side in, namely the Oticon Mores vs. other brands. Because Oticon uses the open sound ‘let-everything-in’ philosophy, it’s more auditory overload, so you’ll notice a significant difference between the ear that has the HA vs. the one that doesn’t and it was an unusual experience for me, bordering on unpleasant. I found with the Phonak Paradise, the balance was a bit better, and I could envision times where I would only put one side in. On paper, your left ear doesn’t seem to be as bad as mine, so it probably feels more balanced than me (I could be way off as of course, audiograms don’t always tell the full story). I am leaning towards getting both though, as HAs are binaural, so having an aid in your better ear will still help with certain processing of sounds that come through your bad ear, specifically if there are times where the setting doesn’t help process the sound clearly on that side.
My audiologist also relayed what hass mentioned above, in that over time, there’s a chance that the brain starts relying more on the aided ear, which will make your loss in your better ear seem more prominent. And spatial sensing also gets a little distorted when you only have one side in.
If cost is a significant factor, I could understand continuing with just one side. But your best experience will be to try for yourself and draw your own conclusions!
