OK....here is what my friend wrote. Not sure if it helps....
------------------------
Indeed, if there is truly a difference in hearing level between this person's ears, then they would be affected adversely by location of the sound source. They probably have a lot of difficulty hearing in noise, or separating the sound source (speech) from other signals (dishes, wind, other people talking, etc.) They probably prefer to sit at the front of the room, or watch lips more closely than other people, whether they realize it or not. The brain's assimilation of perceived sounds in terms of time, phase & magnitude are off because one input source (the bad ear) is not delivering the information at the same time it should (it's delayed, or lower in level). So: where did that sound come from? This person will be turns their head more often, uses the phone primarily on one good side, and might complain that people mumble or are harder to understand.

So how to set up the room for an incredible surround sound experience?

1. First of all, this person needs to determine exactly what the historical problem was, and get a current hearing test- as boring as that may be. I recommend the House Ear Institute downtown LA on 3rd and Alvarado. This is the best place in the world for ears, and also where we designed the digital hearing aid, and worked on simulating localization with various speaker setups, etc. for various projects. The audiologists and otologists at HEI can determine the exact hearing difference between the ears, and also could investigate if anything can be done these days to rectify the problems he or she had from childhood. Yearly audios are good with any type of loss, to be able to track changes from baseline- it's just good practice.

2. Step 2: Determining speaker setup. Most surround sound systems aren't set up correctly anyway, to optimize the true surround sound effect to a person sitting in a set, consistent location with sound at ear level. Look at the millions of people (like me) who went with in-ceiling speakers because there are no wires to drape across the windowed walls and carpetless hardwood floor... etc. For this person, likely the surround sound will help them because they'll be getting more signal to both sides of the room. However, they still need to take into account speaker setup to avoid reverb, or bad placement that might give poor sound quality outside of the localization value. Also: keep in mind guests and that person watching the movie WITH you. A room setup for just one person might not be the best way to go if you have company over all the time.

3. I'd consider multiple speakers with different channel manipulations...

------------------------------------------

-curtis