PurposeThe aims of this study were to compare speech recognition at different postoperative times for both ears in bilaterally implanted patients and to assess the influence of the time of deafness, frequency-to-place mismatch, angular insertion depth (AID) and angular separation between neighbouring electrode contacts on audiometric outcomes.MethodsThis study was performed at an academic tertiary referral centre. A total of 19 adult patients (6 men, 13 women), who received sequential bilateral implantation with lateral wall electrode arrays, were analysed in retrospective. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sidedttest, Wilcoxon test, median test, and Spearman’s correlation.ResultsPostlingually deafened patients (deafness after the age of 10) had a significantly better speech perception (WRS65[CI]) than the perilingually deafened subjects (deafness at the age of 1–10 years) (p< 0.001). Comparison of cochlear duct length between peri- and postlingually deafened subjects showed a slightly significantly smaller cochleae in perilingual patients (p= 0.045). No association between frequency-to-place mismatch as well as angular separation and speech perception could be detected. There was even no significant difference between the both ears in the intraindividual comparison, even if insertion parameters differed.ConclusionThe exact electrode position seems to have less influence on the speech comprehension of CI patients than already established parameters as preoperative speech recognition or duration of deafness.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00405-022-07756-2.