COCHLEAR IMPLANTS FOR DEAFNESS AT THE END OF THE CENTURY

In recent years the cochlear implant has become an established method for rehabilitation of bilateral sensory deafness in adults and childre n. Intracochlear multichannel stimulation with sophisticated speech co ding strategies has proved to be reliable and safe enough for use in a dults as well as young children;thus,a few cochlear implant systems wi th different specifications are currently available. The differences i n their hardware and software are discussed. Furthermore,the current i ndications for cochlear implants in patients whose hearing is severely impaired and important aspects of the preoperative evaluation are pre sented with special emphasis on difficult cases such as deformities, m ultihandicapped subjects and very young children. Our results after 12 years of experience and more than 700 implantations suggest that the most important prognostic factor is the duration of deafness.