Joe Zwislocki’s uniqueness as a scientist lies in his ability to transcend methodology, sensory modality, or system—he has spanned the realms of mathematics, engineering, physics, physiology, and psychophysics to study hearing, touch, and vision. As a graduate student, I was amazed and inspired by his unerring ability to find unifying patterns underlying seemingly different phenomena. I became interested in cochlear implants while a graduate student in Joe’s lab. Cochlear implants present a unique opportunity to the sensory scientist: by bypassing the complex frequency analysis of the cochlea and directly stimulating the auditory nerve, they allow us to separate aspects of temporal and spectral (tonotopic) processing by higher centers of the auditory system. In a series of recent experiments, we have exploited this feature of cochlear implants to better understand the processing of complex signals by the auditory system. In this presentation, I will review these and other experiments on loudness, masking, and temporal processing in electrically stimulated hearing. Although Joe has not (as yet) worked on cochlear implants, his approach to sensory systems is undoubtedly the strongest scientific influence (the ‘‘Zwislocki effect’’) in my work in this area.