Auditory localization under conditions of unilateral fitting of different hearing aid systems

The spatial localization function of hearing-impaired listeners, usually fitted bilaterally with BTE, ITE or ITC devices, was tested under conditions of unilateral fitting of each of their own hearing aids, and unilateral fitting of stock versions of each of the other types. For the BTE wearers average localization accuracy and individual variability were not greatly changed when wearing only their left ear device, compared with bilateral aided performance. In ITE wearers, unilateral fitting in either ear led to somewhat poorer performance than bilateral. In the ITC wearers unilateral fitting produced inconsistent outcomes. Both BTE and ITE wearers fared poorly when fitted unilaterally with stock forms of devices 'foreign' to them, whereas ITC wearers did not show such a contrasting outcome. A group of non-impaired listeners showed severe disruption of localization under unilateral BTE and ITC hearing aid conditions, and to a lesser extent with ITEs. Results for the hearing-impaired listeners are interpreted in terms of adaptation to different usage patterns, with BTE wearers suggested as having adapted to their own systems unilaterally as well as bilaterally.