Just published: Improving sound source localisation for bimodal listeners

There are many people with a cochlear implant who also use a hearing aid in the non-implanted ear. This combination is called bimodal hearing. In this case the two ears are stimulated, which could be expected to lead to improved localisation of sound sources. Unfortunately, when we measure sensitivity to the location of sound sources of bimodal listeners, they usually perform much worse than listeners with  normal hearing.

Measuring localisation performance

As a solution to this problem, we developed a new signal processing scheme that enhances interaural level differences. Normal hearing listeners use differences in level between the ears to localise sound sources. Our new system determines the location of a sound sources uses it to emphasise interaural level differences in the signal.

In tests with six bimodal listeners, we found that their localisation performance was improved by up to 10 degrees.

For more information, please refer to our paper.

Francart, T., Lenssen, A., & Wouters, J. (2011). Enhancement of interaural level differences improves sound localization in bimodal hearing. J Acoust Soc Am, 130(5), 2817-2826.