--Disease Characteristics-- Confirmed diagnosis of neurofibromatosis type 2 Scheduled to undergo first side or second side tumor removal First side implantation performed only on patients with onset of symptoms prior to age 40 --Prior/Concurrent Therapy-- If a nonfunctional auditory brain stem implant (ABI) is present (implanted during the removal of a first side tumor), a multichannel ABI may be implanted during the removal of a second side tumor --Patient Characteristics-- English is the primary language