For most people, binaural listening is superior. It probably comes as no surprise that just like vision is improved with two eyes, hearing is improved with two ears (and all the neural processing in between). Much research has been conducted on the combined effects of listening binaurally. The brain's processing of subtle differences in the time and level of signals coming from each ear provide for the ability to localize (tell which direction sounds are coming from). In addition, sounds don't need to be as loud when listening binaurally, especially in the presence of complex background noise. See CavCom's SoundBytes series to learn more: Effective 2-way Communication and Special Considerations for Workers with Hearing Loss.