Our experience with cochlear implants: have we erred in our expectations?

Many clinicians feel that single-channel cochlear implants are limited in the information they can provide. This has led to some common misconceptions regarding single-channel and multichannel systems. At the House Ear Institute, a growing number of children with the 3M/House single-channel implant are demonstrating open-set understanding of speech on measures designed to test such abilities in children. As a result, we have revised our thinking regarding the potential of this device.