When singing with cochlear implants, are two ears worse than one for perilingually/postlingually deaf individuals?

Abstract

Many individuals with bilateral cochlear implants hear different pitches when listening with their left versus their right cochlear implant. This conflicting information could potentially increase the difficulty of singing with cochlear implants. To determine if bilateral cochlear implants are detrimental for singing abilities, ten perilingually/postlingually deaf bilateral adult cochlear implant users were asked to sing “Happy Birthday” when using their left, right, both, or neither cochlear implant. The results indicated that bilateral cochlear implant users have more difficulty singing the appropriate pitch contour when using both cochlear implants as opposed to the better ear alone.