Cochlear implant patients' localization using interaural level differences exceeds that of untrained normal hearing listeners.

Bilateral cochlear implant patients are unable to localize as well as normal hearing listeners. Although poor sensitivity to interaural time differences clearly contributes to this deficit, it is unclear whether deficits in terms of interaural level differences are also a contributing factor. In this study, localization was tested while manipulating interaural time and level cues using head-related transfer functions. The results indicate that bilateral cochlear implant users' ability to localize based on interaural level differences is actually greater than that of untrained normal hearing listeners. (C) 2012 Acoustical Society of America