Auditory Localization Abilities in Bilateral Cochlear Implant Recipients

Abstract

Bilateral cochlear implantation with the Nucleus 24 device provides marked improvement in horizontal plane localization abilities compared with unilateral CI use for a range of stimuli having different spectral and temporal characteristics. Benefit was obtained by all subjects, for all stimulus types, and for all sound directions. However, binaural performance was still worse than that obtained by normal hearing listeners and hearing aid users with the same methodology. Monaural localization performance was at chance. There is no benefit for localization with dual microphones.