The perception of speech in noise with bilateral and bimodal hearing devices.

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the perception of speech in noise with bilateral cochlear implants and bimodal hearing devices (i.e. the combination of a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other). Several simulation experiments were conducted to examine to what extent users of bilateral and bimodal hearing devices can obtain a binaural advantage, especially when the speech and noise sources are spatially separated. This thesis shows that listeners perform significantly better with simulated bimodal hearing devices than with simulated bilateral implants. The advantage of bimodal stimulation cannot be attributed, however, to a genuine binaural interaction effect. Even when spatial cues were enhanced, listeners could not derive a binaural unmasking effect.