A binaural hearing system (“system”) enhances and/or preserves interaural level differences between first and second signals. The system includes first and second audio detectors associated with first and second ears of a user, respectively. The audio detectors detect an audio signal presented to the user and generate the first and second signals to represent the audio signal as detected at the first and second ears, respectively. The system also includes a first sound processor that receives the first signal from the first audio detector and the second signal from a second sound processor via a communication link with the second sound processor. The first sound processor generates a directional signal representative of a spatial filtering of the audio signal detected at the first ear according to an end-fire directional polar pattern and presents an output signal representative of the directional signal to the user at the first ear.