A person with only one good ear will learn language normally, but will have to work harder to understand speech in a noisy environment.
When you listened to the tape, however, the sound source was all from one direction and figure-ground discrimination becomes a more difficult task.
Hence, a person with one good ear may hear sounds as loudly and clearly as anyone else, but will experience more confusion and fatigue in a noisy environment.
The same is true for someone with a hearing aid, which has only one microphone to pick up the sound signals.
Auditory Memory: Memory, of course, is a major component of our neurological armament. It is a massive process that is involved in almost all other cognitive skills. Scientists spend their lives studying it, and still we don't know the basic mechanisms involved. But there is much information we do have, and we will look at some of this later.