A hearing assistance device includes two transducers which react to a characteristic of an acoustic wave to capture data representative of the characteristic. The device is arranged so that each transducers is located adjacent a respective ear of a person wearing the device. A signal processor processes the data to provide relatively more emphasis of data representing a first sound source the person is facing over data representing a second sound source the person is not facing. At least one speaker utilizes the data to reproduce sounds to the person. An active noise reduction system provides a signal to the speaker for reducing an amount of ambient acoustic noise in the vicinity of the person that is heard by the person.