Beta-band activity in auditory pathways reflects speech localization and recognition in bilateral cochlear implant users.

In normal-hearing listeners, localization of auditory speech involves stimulus processing in the postero-dorsal pathway of the auditory system. In quiet environments, bilateral cochlear implant (CI) users show high speech recognition performance, but localization of auditory speech is poor, especially when discriminating stimuli from the same hemifield. Whether this difficulty relates to the inability of the auditory system to translate binaural electrical cues into neural signals, or to a functional reorganization of auditory cortical pathways following long periods of binaural deprivation is unknown.