11: Management of Single-Sided Deafness

Single-sided deafness (SSD) disrupts spatial hearing, thereby leading to a number of adverse effects for the listener. The functional losses associated with SSD includes reduced sound awareness in the impaired ear, poor speech understanding in noisy environments, and the inability to locate where sound is coming from. These negative consequences are linked to social-emotional impacts, and can result in increased listening effort and overall poorer quality of life in SSD listeners. Clinical rehabilitation of SSD remains limited in its ability to fully restore access to binaural cues to restore spatial hearing abilities. Management of SSD most often consists of rehabilitation through hearing devices and implants, which improves access to sound thus alleviating some of the hearing deficits.