CI Selection

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chnoon

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Hi All,

My son (10 months) is due to have bi-lateral implants very soon. My wife and I have met with the surgeon and audiologist team who will work with us after the surgery. We've been given the option of either MED-EL, or Cochlear. Although we've been told there is no wrong decision between the two...I've never been so afraid to make a decision before! I'm leaning towards the MED-EL because of the size of the speech processor. He'll most likely use the body worn option for the early years, and the size of two bodyworn Cochlear processors would be too much equipement.

Is there anything else we should be considering? Is it true that neither is the wrong way to go? Please let me know if you feel strongly one way or the other for either manufacturer.

Thank You,
Chris
 
My daughter has Advanced Bionics but since that isn't an option for you, I would have gone with Cochlear. I was looking at customer service inside the US and they don't have a lot of people who work with them a lot, in my area.

I would talk to your MAPing audiologist and see what he is most comfortable. The key to CI success is a very good MAP.

Also, the Med-el internal device is very large and made of ceramic rather than titanium, and that was another reason I didn't go with them.
 
Cochlear has many more users in the USA then Med-El users, but there are people on this forum who have Med-El and some that have Cochlear as well as Advanced Bionics like faire jours daughter, Miss Kat. I have personally researched CI's for a project as well as for my own personal knowledge and if I had to pick b/w the two i would go for Cochlear's nucleus freedom over Med-El's opus i believe it is. If you are worried about Cochlear's weight and such there are baby worn options and there are a few babies and children that have the freedom and have done fine with it i am sure. Drew is one of the younger babies/toddlers that has bi-lateral Ci's and here is his blog that his parents hve for him and his progress as well as videos and pics of him with his CI's on Turn On My Ears!
 
i have bilateral cochlear ci's and have been quite pleased with them. you can't go wrong with any of the 3 implant brands, but some of the reasons i chose cochlear include:

1. cochlear has been in the ci industry for over 20 years.

2. cochlear has excellent customer service.

3. cochlear has a volunteer advocate program that pairs ci candidates with ci users who have a similar hearing loss history.

4. the nucleus freedom has 4 programs that can be mapped.

5. there are over 40,000 ways the freedom can be programmed.

6. the freedom has several options in terms of speed/Htz (1800 MHz, 1200 MHz, 900 MHz, 750 MHz and 500 MHz). having various speeds to choose from allows one to receive the best quality of sound possible.

7. the freedom utilizes disposeable and rechargeable batteries.

8. the freedom is waterproof.

9. there are more cochlear ci users than any other manufacturer.

10. the freedom was completely accessible to me as a totally deafblind person.

if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask. :)
 
I hope users of Med-El also come to provide the reasons for their decisions.

To correct some of the information.
The Freedom is Water Resistant, not water proof. You have to remove it when taking a shower or going swimming for example. If it gets wet and water gets to the BTE processor filters for the MIC's, they can block sound and do require replacement. $30.00 for 4, easily handled by the user. I change mine about every 3-4 months. I do not know about the body worn processor. I have seen some children use the BTE processors and make little "back packs" to hold them.

Batteries can be disposable or rechargeable. You don't have to use both at the same time. Some reciepents have said they did not get rechargeable batteries. I use Rechargeable. Rechargeable batteries are a little more cost effective to use than disposable but the charge does not last as long. Of course, there is the disposal consideration. I recycle my disposable batteries to keep them out of the land fills. Some on the board report several days between charging. I'm between 15 and 17 hours on a charge. 5:30a to around 10:00p.

I know there are some other speeds the processor can run. I have used 3500, 2400, 1800, 1200 and 900. Not that any are better, it is just that for me, the 900 and 1200, I have to work a little harder to listen. 1800 is just comfortable but it is all how your brain uses the signals. I don't know if Med-El has different speeds but I would think they would in order to taylor the program for the reciepient.

For me, I choose Cochlear because my Dr. office had the most experience with the brand. The did offer I believe AB but I can't remember now.

Again, I hope you are able to find enough information to comfortably make your decission.
Steve
 
Well, the above posters gave good help. The only thing I want to point out is do not decide on an implant because it's "smaller" or baby friendly. Your child will have to live with this the rest of his life. Having a larger processor (cochlear) may seem such an hindrance, but you'll work it out and eventually the child will grow. Cochlear may eventually make a smaller processor.

Also, there's light LED on the processor to tell you whether it is on, working, or when batteries are dying.

I am not sure if Med-EL Opus has those options.

Since you're from NY, you may want to look out your son's future of where to find audiologists to do the Mappings. There is not many clinics in the US that work with Med-EL. If you were in Europe, then there wouldn't be an issue. I moved to Nevada from NJ, and there's no clinic that does Med-EL in Nevada OR New Jersey. It's just not that all common.

So, personally, I would ignore the fact of how powerful the processors are in today's time...it will always get better...but more focused on the implant itself and availability of clinics as well as customer support.

Good luck with choosing which company.
 
Hear Again said:
i have bilateral cochlear ci's and have been quite pleased with them. you can't go wrong with any of the 3 implant brands, but some of the reasons i chose cochlear include:

1. cochlear has been in the ci industry for over 20 years.

2. cochlear has excellent customer service.

3. cochlear has a volunteer advocate program that pairs ci candidates with ci users who have a similar hearing loss history.

4. the nucleus freedom has 4 programs that can be mapped.

5. there are over 40,000 ways the freedom can be programmed.

6. the freedom has several options in terms of speed/Htz (1800 MHz, 1200 MHz, 900 MHz, 750 MHz and 500 MHz). having various speeds to choose from allows one to receive the best quality of sound possible.

7. the freedom utilizes disposeable and rechargeable batteries.

8. the freedom is waterproof.

9. there are more cochlear ci users than any other manufacturer.

10. the freedom was completely accessible to me as a totally deafblind person.

if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask. :)
Click to expand...

Apart from Q' 10 as i am not visually impaired. I have same reasons as Hear again.

When i chose between 3 of choices (medel, cochlear and AB) I quickly removed medel because i wasn't confident with the information they gave, cremiac implant is another factor that put me off due my active lifstyle, i wouldn'y want to wait for reimplantion if i ever have a knock on my head resulting breaking them but i think that Med el had since changed the materials. Also they comes with remote which is very easily mislaid as i am always on the go and more likely to forget it and let alone loose it.
In my case it's the confidence of med el that let me down. I am sure alot of people on this site have confidence in them.. one is southfella and another is Deafskeptic.

Good luck with what you had chosen for your little boy. Research as much as you can. Have you been on cicircle? it's forum for parents of CI kids, they probably give you the best advice.
 
steve,

thank you for correcting my error. i meant to type water reisistant, but wrote waterproof instead. my bad.
 
Hi! I'm scheduled for a CI on March 2nd and Med-El is my choice. I'm not sure where everyone is getting their Med-El info but their most recent implant (the Sonata) is made of titanium and silicone and molds to the skull.

Med-El also has the thinnest electrode array of any on the market which increases the chance of preserving residual hearing. Of course there's no guarantee. My understanding is that for deep insertion, the thinnest electrodes are best. In my case, I have decent hearing in the high tones but not much in the low tones (downward sloping to the left which is apparently rare) this means the surgeon will have to insert the electrode as deeply as possible in order to stimulate those areas responsible for low tones.

Features include flashing light to indicate low battery - good for parents/teachers so that they know when to change batteries for a child. A private alert for adults so we know when the battery is going low. A remote tuner so that you don't have to remove the processor for tuning OR the choice of the processor with buttons on the processor. Rechargeable batteries; FM connection.
 
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I don't know much about CI or anything..but just curious your child is 10 months old? I didn't relieve they an do that a that age...I'm more puzzeled of why? Like I said I'm new to the whole CI threads and everything..just curious.
 
Ridemiown said:
Med-El also has the thinnest electrode array of any on the market which increases the chance of preserving residual hearing. Of course there's no guarantee. My understanding is that for deep insertion, the thinnest electrodes are best. In my case, I have decent hearing in the high tones but not much in the low tones (downward sloping to the left which is apparently rare) this means the surgeon will have to insert the electrode as deeply as possible in order to stimulate those areas responsible for low tones.
Click to expand...

I like Med-El with their more options of various type of arrays to use for certain situations such as yours and ossocalifications. I'm not 100% sure, but it seem that Med-El is better for complex issues within the cochlear.

I picked Cochlear because it was the only company that my audiologist does. I just trusted her. I'm would have never been able to go for Med-El as it's not available in NJ or Nevada. It's hard to find in the States.
 
chris' mom said:
I don't know much about CI or anything..but just curious your child is 10 months old? I didn't relieve they an do that a that age...I'm more puzzeled of why? Like I said I'm new to the whole CI threads and everything..just curious.
Click to expand...

if i remember correcty, the youngest infant to receive a ci was 8 months old.
 
Hear Again said:
how does a remote tuner allow for hands-free adjustments? :scratch:
Click to expand...


Thanks for pointing out my stupidity! HA!

I'm hearing impaired, I never claimed to be bright. Obviously 'hands free' wasn't the right phrase. Sorry. I've corrected my post.
 
Is there some type of literature out there that compares the companies side by side?
 
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