The removal of a functioning cochlear implant in order to upgrade to a more advanced device is a critical issue to many otologists, since we currently have no means to predict the results preoperatively. This paper reports on two patients who successfully upgraded from a single-channel to a multichannel implant. The new implants outperformed the original devices in both the live-voice test and the videotaped test. The patients stated that the hearing quality afforded by the multichannel implant was much better than that provided by the original implant.
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