Cochlear implant soft failures consensus development conference statement

In summary, CI soft failure is an uncommon occurrence in which a device malfunction is suspected but cannot be proven. It is a working diagnosis, based on characteristic symptoms such as shocking sensations, popping sounds, intermittency, or unexplained progressive decrement in performance. Complete otological evaluation, CT scan, expert re-programming, exchange of all external hardware, and integrity testing by the manufacturer are necessary before the working diagnosis is made. The usual management is device replacement when aversive symptoms are intolerable or performance becomes unacceptable as determined by the team and family.