Amplification cannot restore sound localization impaired by binaural encoding loss.

Evidence

It is evident from this review of literature that listeners with sensorineural hearing loss experience substantial deficits in their abilities to take advantage of binaural cues. Listeners with symmetrical hearing loss will experience poor sound localization as well as difficulty in using their binaural hearing to separate target sounds from background sounds. Listeners with asymmetric hearing loss experience even greater difficulties. As a result, the ability of many listeners with hearing loss to utilize their two ears is severely compromised, and they cannot benefit from the multitude of abilities afforded by hearing with two ears. Amplification would not be expected to restore poor sound localization due to abnormal encoding of binaural information, but it could help with the representation of ILDs. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1592