To explore the suitability of the Manufacturer User Facility and Distributor Experience (MAUDE) database (which is maintained by the Food and Drug Administration and has a mandatory reporting requirement) for systemic analysis of cochlear implant complications and treatments and, in so doing, analyze trends in cochlear implant complications for 2 periods, 2002 and pre-1998. Data Sources: All events from 2002 and from before 1998 were considered. Events and action taken were categorized and tabulated. Data Synthesis: Because there was no null hypothesis, statistical analysis (2) was only used in comparing the 2 time frames. Conclusions: Structural limitations of the database, in addition to disparate reporting quality, made systematic analysis difficult. It was noted that spontaneous device failure accounted for the greatest single number of