The International Tinnitus Journal

Cochlear Implantation in the Twenty-First Century

Corrently cochlear implantation is a very excitIng, expandIng, and rapIdly changing field of otology. My opinion and earnest hope is that several new developments will take place in the early twenty-first century. In this article, I focus on the short- versus long-electrode controversy in some detail as it relates to implantation for deafness and then briefly discuss our thoughts and current efforts related to cochlear implantation for the electrical suppression of tinnitus. Let me start with my conclusion, which commonly is viewed as heresy among the orthodox: Patients with single-channel implants can achieve significant open-set speech discrimination. Momentarily, we will discuss the theory and data that support this concept. Clearly, multichannel devices also work. However, as we shall see, they do so at a significant cost to the patient and by that I mean not merely financial.