This paper considers output feedback control using high-gain observers in the presence of measurement noise for a class of nonlinear systems. We study stability in the presence of measurement noise and illustrate the tradeoff when selecting the observer gain between state reconstruction speed and robustness to model uncertainty on the one hand versus amplification of noise on the other. Based on this tradeoff we propose a high-gain observer that switches between two gain values. This scheme is able to quickly recover the system states during large estimation error and reduce the effect of measurement noise in a neighborhood of the origin of the estimation error. We argue boundedness and ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop system under switched-gain output feedback. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.