A cochlear implant arrangement is described. A first microphone is located on the same side of the patient's head as the ear with the cochlear implant for generating an ipsilateral microphone signal. A second microphone is located on the opposite side of the patient's head as the ear with the cochlear implant for generating a contralateral microphone signal. A sound object identification module processes the ipsilateral microphone signal and the contralateral microphone signal in real time to identify one or more sound objects in the sound environment around the patient. A sound object selection module selects for each sound object the microphone signal from the microphone closer to the sound object to determine a corresponding sound object microphone signal. A sound object processor combines and processes the sound object microphone signals to generate one or more stimulation signals to the cochlear implant.
