Effects of noise and reverberation on virtual sound localization for listeners with bilateral cochlear implants.

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effects of both noise and reverberation on the ability of listeners with bilateral cochlear implants (BCIs) to localize and the feasibility of using a virtual localization test to evaluate BCI users. DESIGN Seven adults with normal hearing (NH) and two adults with BCIs participated. All subjects completed the virtual localization test in quiet and at 0, -4, -8 dB signal-to-noise ratio in simulated anechoic and reverberant environments. BCI users were also tested at +4 dB signal-to-noise ratio. The noise source was at 0°. A three-word phrase was presented at 70 dB SPL from nine simulated locations in the frontal horizontal plane (±90°). RESULTS Results revealed significantly poorer localization accuracy for BCI users than NH listeners in all conditions. Significant reverberation effects were observed for BCI users but not listeners with NH. CONCLUSION Noise and reverberation have a significant effect on BCI users, and their localization ability can be evaluated using these virtual tests.