Cochlear vs Med-El - music listening

K

kaarestakj

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone! :wave:

I'm very new to this forum!

I've been approved for surgery and it is scheduled for Sept 17th. Now, to select my equipment. I'm at a stopping point of which I'm not finding any qualitative data.

Which one Cochlear / Med-El best for music? iPod, concerts, symphony, piano, etc... I really want the best equipment that will allow me to get the best results in this area.

Any feedback will be quite appreciated!!

Thank you!
 
kaarestakj said:
Hello everyone! :wave:

I'm very new to this forum!

I've been approved for surgery and it is scheduled for Sept 17th. Now, to select my equipment. I'm at a stopping point of which I'm not finding any qualitative data.

Which one Cochlear / Med-El best for music? iPod, concerts, symphony, piano, etc... I really want the best equipment that will allow me to get the best results in this area.

Any feedback will be quite appreciated!!

Thank you!
Click to expand...
hello welcome ,I wish u good luck and all the best for surgery ;) ,Which one cochlear or med el is best for music well i am not sure yet because i just had med el implant surgery yesterday so i will find out l8r on .The reason i went for med el is the look at the speech processor size (HA) also i have being told by audiology that i will appreciated music lot more from med el .At first i want AB implant but i changed my mind for med el not the aduiology ,doctor ,friend n family influenced me so purely is was my decision .
So u have to think off pros and con between cochlear and med el .i don't want to judge implant user apparently cochlear had a issue problem so i couldn't risk that
let me know what u have decided ?
GOOD LUCK :D


i was born deaf wear two powerful HA for 31 yrs
i had senisnerual hearing loss nov 2011
Med el implant surgery 19-07-2012 which is yesterday :)
waiting for switch on ,come on i can't wait to switch on now !!!
 
I don't have any experience with either Cochlear or MedEl, as I have the Advanced Bionic implant for myself. Have you checked the Cochlear or Med-El communities online and asked about the music? Med-El and Cochlear have their own forum communities where you can interact with other Cochlear/Med-El users. There's also a group on Yahoo called CI Hear, they might be able to give you some feedback as well. Good luck with your research and getting the best device for yourself. :)
 
cochlear has a really cool feature. you can hook up the mp3 to the implant within seconds. AB can do the same, but takes a lot of effort/time to do so

you can hear purely just music, it turns off the mics and just listen to the output of the mp3


HOWEVER, i will say that with audio without wires, AB is really better.
 
kaarestakj said:
Hello everyone! :wave:

I'm very new to this forum!

I've been approved for surgery and it is scheduled for Sept 17th. Now, to select my equipment. I'm at a stopping point of which I'm not finding any qualitative data.

Which one Cochlear / Med-El best for music? iPod, concerts, symphony, piano, etc... I really want the best equipment that will allow me to get the best results in this area.

Any feedback will be quite appreciated!!

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Frankly, no PC-tippy-toeing around, if you want the best equipment possible for music, then you would need to be looking at Advanced Bionics. Med El would be next... Cochlear would be at the bottom.

Advanced Bionics is the only one currently delivering 120 channels, which gives you more pitch resolution. It is also the only one that offers up to an 80 input decibel range, extremely important for capturing the quieter instruments/sounds in music up to the peak dynamics.

Med El would be a good second choice as they do have the internal design of the implant to deliver the additional channels similar to AB, but they do not currently offer a processing algorithm that makes use of it. Their IDR goes up to 55.

Cochlear does not have channel capability beyond the physical electrodes and their IDR maxes out at 45. This does not mean their users cannot enjoy music... but they do so through limited means. In the 50's, people enjoyed listening to music and talk radio on tinny, single speaker, shelf-top radios. They didn't know any better and were perfectly fine with it. Today we have much higher fidelity equipment and do know better.

Music is not a given with any implant since so many factors are involved. Not everyone is able to get the same benefit from the same programs. All you can do is give yourself the best chance possible. IDR is a very important factor. Normal hearing averages at 100 db. With a CI, if you have a 45 IDR range.. when you listen to music that range will shift up to the peak level in music. That means anything quieter than what fits in that range will not be captured. With music, you want that range as wide as possible. If you were listening to Classical, for example, you would hear the most prominent instrument , but not the Oboe and Violins providing subtle nuances in the background.

You can verify all I've told you by researching the specifications thoroughly.. and you should. Know what you are getting. I did and it paid off. Not many do the research they should do and tend to just go with the marketing, not really understanding how this or that works.

You can get a great overview of everything at cochlear implant HELP as well as in-depth explanations of every aspect.
 
bbaseballboy123 said:
cochlear has a really cool feature. you can hook up the mp3 to the implant within seconds. AB can do the same, but takes a lot of effort/time to do so
Click to expand...

Do you mean using the Personal Audio Cable by connecting it to the port on the N5 versus switching out the earhook on AB's Harmony? I wouldn't say it takes a lot of effort and time, but it's not as convenient as with the N5, I agree. I do wish the Harmony was set-up like that.

However, the Neptune (AB) is simple, quick... and doesn't use a proprietary cable the way the N5 and Harmony do. There is also no additional wire hanging from your ear.
 
MED-EL vs. AB for music appreciation...

BleedingPurist said:
Do you mean using the Personal Audio Cable by connecting it to the port on the N5 versus switching out the earhook on AB's Harmony? I wouldn't say it takes a lot of effort and time, but it's not as convenient as with the N5, I agree. I do wish the Harmony was set-up like that.

However, the Neptune (AB) is simple, quick... and doesn't use a proprietary cable the way the N5 and Harmony do. There is also no additional wire hanging from your ear.
Click to expand...

I am a user of MED-EL cochlear implants (bilateral) and am very excited about the coding strategy of Fine Structure Processing (FSP) for listening to music! Music is much richer and has more depth when listening with FSP. *I still get shivers down my spine from listening to music with such depth and resonance.... I never expected to experience this and am soooo grateful that I can.
*
I am no engineer but here's what I understand of how MED-EL makes this happen....
*
1) FSP stimulates the channels between electrodes and allows me to hear music with the richness that music is intended to have. It can represent up to 250 different pitches, but of course how many different pitches a person can hear depends on their own auditory system.
*
2) Also, MED-EL has a sliding input dynamic range of 75dB (not 55 as stated on the blog) which allows MED-EL users to experience a much broader range of loudness variability. *Having a sliding input dynamic range makes a huge difference in accurately representing the variety of loudness changes that occur in any sound environment, including listening to music.
*

So I hope that you will take another look at MED-EL's technology which is and has always been very transparent on their website. One of the reasons I chose MED-EL was because the owners have dedicated over 30% of their profits back into research and product development every year. *I am excited to have such a rich experience with music because of their great commitment to their users!
 
music appreciation MED-EL vs. AB

BleedingPurist said:
Do you mean using the Personal Audio Cable by connecting it to the port on the N5 versus switching out the earhook on AB's Harmony? I wouldn't say it takes a lot of effort and time, but it's not as convenient as with the N5, I agree. I do wish the Harmony was set-up like that.

However, the Neptune (AB) is simple, quick... and doesn't use a proprietary cable the way the N5 and Harmony do. There is also no additional wire hanging from your ear.
Click to expand...

I am a user of MED-EL cochlear implants (bilateral) and am very excited about the coding strategy of Fine Structure Processing (FSP) for listening to music! Music is much richer and has more depth when listening with FSP. *I still get shivers down my spine from listening to music with such depth and resonance.... I never expected to experience this and am soooo grateful that I can.
*
I am no engineer but here's what I understand of how MED-EL makes this happen....
*
1) FSP stimulates the channels between electrodes and allows me to hear music with the richness that music is intended to have. It can represent up to 250 different pitches, but of course how many different pitches a person can hear depends on their own auditory system.
*
2) Also, MED-EL has a sliding input dynamic range of 75dB (not 55 as stated on the blog) which allows MED-EL users to experience a much broader range of loudness variability. *Having a sliding input dynamic range makes a huge difference in accurately representing the variety of loudness changes that occur in any sound environment, including listening to music.
*

So I hope that you will take another look at MED-EL's technology which is and has always been very transparent on their website. One of the reasons I chose MED-EL was because the owners have dedicated over 30% of their profits back into research and product development every year. *I am excited to have such a rich experience with music because of their great commitment to their users!
 
Hello i assumed you had the surgery yesterday so i wish u all the speedy recovery and all the best for the switch on .You will have exciting time ahead .What u picked ?
I have been told that i will appreciated music lots from Med el than cochlear .So i had surgery july 19 th 2012 with med el .The switch on was august 23rd 2012 also have been to tuning session as well now have two more appointment .I was so overwhelming what i could hear from the med el .Listen to music -Oh that was fantastic and do recognise music like how i used to hear from the hearing aids but Ci was so much better sound than HA .
Sound i never heard in my life was - Train brakes squealing ,door creaking (loud) :D was gobsmacked ,dogs barking i advice you they are the worse noisy barking LOL .When i walk i hear footstep thinking someone is following me and realised is from me .It is been really a good hearing journey


Phonak HA 32yrs
sensorineural hearing loss novemeber 2011
Med el implanted july 19th 2012
Switch on august 23rd 2012
 
Wow, This post has all the answers I needed. I am someone who has to decide with which cochlear implant I am going for by the end of this year, and Medel has always been the top choice due to their dedication to music appreciation. Music has been all I ever wanted to listen to again since I went deaf in both ears last year due to Sudden Sensorineural Deafness. I've always heard from people on the internet that Cochlear Americas make music sound like pure noise, and I am scared to death that cochlear implants might just be the end of music in my life. Can anyone give me any more experiences of theirs in Medel, Advanced Bionics, and Cochlear Americas on how they hear with CIs now compared to the time you can hear music before you went deaf? Any experience is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Back
Top