Multichannel cochlear implantation in a patient with bilateral Mondini deformities

A 31-year-old man with bilateral Mondini dysplasia was successfully implanted with a Nucleus multichannel 22-electrode cochlear prosthesis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of multichannel cochlear implantation in a patient with Mondini dysplasia. The surgical procedure used to insert the device was uncomplicated. Although objective measurements demonstrated only slight improvement in most categories of the Iowa test battery, he has the ability to discriminate pure-tone frequency differences and environmental sounds. Subjectively, he was a satisfied implant user. The surgical feasibility of multichannel implantation in patients with Mondini dysplasia should open the door for improved speech recognition and tonal discrimination in this subset of patients.