OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the hearing behavior of figure-to-ground and temporal resolution and self-perception of limitations on the activities of children and adolescents with unilateral hearing loss. CASE REPORT: Thirty-eight individuals between the ages of 8 and 19 years participated in the study. They were divided into2 groups: (1) the experimental group (i.e., unilateral hearing loss) and (2) the control group (i.e., normal-hearing individuals). Each group consisted of 19 individuals. They all submitted self-report questionnaires concerning limitations of their communicative activities. The questionnaire posed questions about noisy and silent situations and sound localization. The participants underwent the gap-in-noise and the pediatric speech intelligibility tests. In the experimental group, the unilateral hearing loss was classified as profound in most participants, and the hearing loss began at the preschool stage and had unknown or undefined causes (e.g., meningitis, trauma, mumps, or measles). Most individuals presented with complaints of learning difficulties and predominantly had a moderate of degree of limitation in communicative activities, especially in noisy situations. The degree of hearing loss and the ear with unilateral hearing loss did not interfere with the severity of the limitation. Compared to the normal-hearing group, the experimental group had worse results with the good ear in the gap detection threshold and in the pediatric speech intelligibility test. There was no correlation between the good ear and the bad ear in the gap detection threshold. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with unilateral hearing loss present with limitations in communicative activities, especially in noisy environments. This is related to worsening of hearing ability in temporal resolution and in figure-to-ground.