S u m m a r y: The first part of the contribution summarizes theoretical aspects of binaural hearing and present physical and physiological principles playing a role there. The main advantage of binaural hearing includes binaural summation, possibility of directional hearing, and the elimination of the role of acoustic shade of the head as well as an increased signal-noise ratio in the central hearing organ. The authors discuss mono-aural and binaural correction with the hearing aid and present advantages of binaural correction which, among other things, exert a lower load on the hearing organ and enables the space and directional hearing and, especially, offer a better comprehensibility of speech on the background of disturbing side sounds. The second part of the contribution presents the results of evaluating a group of patients, who use binaural correction with hearing aid permanently and become adapted to them. The evaluationwas based on the results of a questionnaire, filled out by the users, as well as the results of the discrimination test, which evaluated understanding of a standard set of words on the background of disturbing white noise with a precisely defined signal-noise ratio. Both kinds of evaluation univocally proved that the use of hearing aid on both ears is of definitive advantage in most cases and provides a substantial improvement of hearing comfort and comprehensibility of speech. It should be therefore a method of choice especially for persons in active age and generally in patients with higher requirements for communication abilities.

        Key words: binaural hearing, correction with hearing aid.