A variety of electric-field models have been proposed for the electrically stimulated cochlea, ranging from closed-form analytical models to numerical finite-difference models. Of particular interest in these models is a description of the electrical stimulus in the immediate vicinity of the target neural fibers. Present models are limited in their abilities to account for fine details of cochlear anatomy. The analytical approach must assume simplifying geometries, and the finite-difference approach is limited in spatial resolution for reasonable problem size. Initial modeling efforts using the finite-element approach are described that allow the description of arbitrary geometries at fine resolution where needed. The model is limited to a two-dimensional cross section of the cochlea.