Opinions needed on CI Brands

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Fozzy

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Hey folks the wait is over for me. My evaluation was yesterday and I'm a good canidate for CIs:roll:. Now the question is which brand do I want to impant. The following is my take so far and I would like to hear from those of you that are using any of these brands.

MedEL -
Pros - The smallest CI (internal and external) on the market

Cons - Need to carry the Remote around all day to be able to change progams or volume, not sweat proof, no external jacks/connections for help with listening devices, microphone not near the canal

Advance Bionics -
Pros - The microphone is set near the ear canal, Program switches are on the processor

Cons - Not sweat proof, no external jacks/connections for help with listening devices, Big

Cholear America -
Pros - Sweat proof (so they say), Programs and volume are on the processor, 122 electrodes, pre-wound electrode coil, has a external jack for listening devices

Cons - Big, Microphone not near ear canal

Right now I'm leaning toward the Cochlea America product but I need to hear from those of you that are using any of these.:hmm:

Thanks in advance
 
First you need to find out if all 3 companies are available at your hospital.
 
All 3 are available and the audi knows the set ups and mapping software.
 
Actually, Advanced Bionic's Harmony is water resistence, so sweat shouldn't bother it (just like with Cochlear's Freedom). And AB has different hook options (normal, T-mic, one for plugging into iPod and so on) that you can use.

Myself, I've already chosen Advanced Bionics (have chosen them a few years ago) for whenever I do get the implant for myself. I crossed Med-El off the list completely, I don't like the way their processors look. So I just did comparisons between AB and Cochlear, and they both seem like excellent products. But AB just really attracted me more than Cochlear did.

All 3 of the implants work, and everyone who chose whichever brand they chose have been very happy with their implants, so you can't go wrong with any of them really. Good luck! :)
 
All of the 3 implant brands are excellent.

Having said that, some of the reasons I chose Cochlear include:

* Cochlear has been in the CI industry for over 20 years

* Excellent customer service

* Cochlear has a program that pairs CI candidates with experienced users

* The Freedom has over 1,000 ways it can be mapped

* The Freedom has 4 program slots

* The Freedom uses several processing speeds (750, 900, 1200, 1800, etc.)
 
Fozzy - actually Cochlear has 22 electrodes, not 122 (eeps!).

even though Freedom do not have the T-Mic that sits like AB, this is the reason why they have three microphones. There's two directional, and one omni.

I made a large list of comparisons a few months ago, let me see if I can find it.

I picked Cochlear because that's all my audiologist does and surgeon.
 
OK folks thanks for the input and links to the other threads. All has been very informative.

My Audi had told me that she is trained for mapping all 3 of the brands but more then 75% of here clients are Cochlear America CI. Which is something I have to keep in concideration.

I noticed in my resent reading that CA is working with Phonak and Phonak has created a boot that fits to the bottom of the Battery case on the processor the boot works with the FM Transmitters that can be used in meeting or lectures which is ideal for students.

Now the next question I have is should I do both ears at the same time or one at a time. Currently the Dr. is saying one at a time is better that way I can still have some hearing using my other ear with a HA while my brain adjusts to the new way the sounds are coming in, to me this just sounds like it would confuse my brain.

Any input??
 
I can't speak for those that have bilateral CI's, nor for the ones that chose to have both implanted at the same time. But, for me, I would not have them done at the same time simply due to healing time and comfort. I had my surgery in November and that side is still a bit tender to sleep on. Not the implant itself, nor any incision trouble, but there seems to be a spot that if I roll over on that side and land on "it", it can still wake me up with a twinge of pain. I imagine it would be much harder while healing on both sides. Unless you are someone that sleeps on their back all night long, then you wouldn't have a problem, I suppose.
 
etalton said:
Unless you are someone that sleeps on their back all night long, then you wouldn't have a problem, I suppose.
Click to expand...

Start on my side move to my back and wife pushes me back to my side so she can have the whole bed. :laugh2: And of course the snoring has nothing to do with it. ;)
 
I would think it'd be cheaper to both in one day... if you get 1, then the 2nd at another time, that's twice the hospital/surgery/etc. bills. I can understand 1 at a time though.
 
Fozzy said:
Start on my side move to my back and wife pushes me back to my side so she can have the whole bed. :laugh2: And of course the snoring has nothing to do with it. ;)
Click to expand...

Oh, no..no..of course not.. :laugh2:
 
Fozzy said:
Now the next question I have is should I do both ears at the same time or one at a time. Currently the Dr. is saying one at a time is better that way I can still have some hearing using my other ear with a HA while my brain adjusts to the new way the sounds are coming in, to me this just sounds like it would confuse my brain.

Any input??
Click to expand...

I have tried using the HA in my other ear, but my HA at the time of activation was more powerful than my implanted ear, so it wouldn't work. To be honest, as much as you may hate the sounds at activation, it will get better over time.


As for doing both at the same time - Vallee is the only one I know here that really fought to have both done. Some insurance companies will only pay for one. I got lucky. I never had any issues with my insurance. I had one 4 months after the first one.

Vallee have always says that she just had to recover once. It was a bit different, but in her thoughts - why would you go through surgery twice, recover twice etc? I got my second one because I didn't realize how wonderful it was so I requested to have it done before I moved...got the surgery done three days later. :)

So...if you feel really positive about it and just want to get rid of the HA's and feel that you'll really benefit for bilateral...go for it. If you only have wore one HA's your whole life, I do recommend that you do one at a time, otherwise the non-HA ear would fall a little behind.

I hope I am making some sense out of this...
 
Fozzy,

If you're still able to receive some benefit from your hearing aid, I would put off going bilateral since you might find bimodal hearing to be just as good as bilateral CIs. I wore a hearing aid in my nonimplanted ear for 6 months following my activation. Eventually my hearing worsened to the point where I could no longer tell whether or not my hearing aid was on or off. My hearing aid audi and CI audi tried to make all kinds of program adjustments to no avail and that was when my CI surgeon recommended that I have a second CI. Of course, this is only my opinion. If you'd like to go billateral right from the start, I'd discuss this with your CI surgeon.
 
The surgeon and Audi both recommended doing one at a time so I guess that is the route I'm going.

Once my DARS Councilor gets the paper work together I will be moving forward. Think I'm going to go with the Cochlear Americas product.

Thanks everyone for sharing the info.
 
Update:
I’m still waiting for a surgery date due to DARS Austin taking their time on getting my application completed. While waiting I’ve been fitted with a Phonak Naida V UP for my right ear, jury is still out on weather I like it or not. The sound suppression takes some getting use to, think I will need a few more adjustments before I’m good to go.
BTW
Anyone else using the Maxit Bluetooth Neck Loop? I saw that they have a new Maxit Pulse (How the MaxIT Bluetooth Loopset works) that is A2DP enabled and wondered if you can hear Music on the Cell phone with it. The Classic which is what I have doesn’t do anything but Cell phone calls.
 
Fozzy said:
Hey folks the wait is over for me. My evaluation was yesterday and I'm a good canidate for CIs:roll:. Now the question is which brand do I want to impant. The following is my take so far and I would like to hear from those of you that are using any of these brands.

MedEL -
Pros - The smallest CI (internal and external) on the market

Cons - Need to carry the Remote around all day to be able to change progams or volume, not sweat proof, no external jacks/connections for help with listening devices, microphone not near the canal

Advance Bionics -
Pros - The microphone is set near the ear canal, Program switches are on the processor

Cons - Not sweat proof, no external jacks/connections for help with listening devices, Big

Cholear America -
Pros - Sweat proof (so they say), Programs and volume are on the processor, 122 electrodes, pre-wound electrode coil, has a external jack for listening devices

Cons - Big, Microphone not near ear canal

Right now I'm leaning toward the Cochlea America product but I need to hear from those of you that are using any of these.:hmm:

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

That's not true, all 3 have external jack option, advanced bionic is on top of the processor you put in then plug in with jack or you can put ear bud/headphone and set it on telecoil it'll work.
Med-el have external jack you just need unplug regular battery attachment to different one with external jack on the bottom then plug that in, ta-da!
Med-el and cochlear have both rechargeable and disposable battery option.
Med-el have the longest array out of all (31 mm) it have almost whole cochlea coverage so it have much more low frequency.

Cochlear and advanced bionic is water resistent and I don't remember if medel is water resistent or not. But I'm pretty sure it'll be totally fine if you got caught in rain or sweating, I mean hearing aid is not water resistent but it managed to survive in rain, accidently jumped in pool/shower so as long you have dry store any of them are fine.
Check the ronjaxon post about brand I have more answer about all 3 brands I'd like you to go see.
 
The Freedom by Cochlear does not have 122 electrodes. It has 24.

Having said that, more channels does not necessarily mean better speech understanding.

I have 18 electrodes activated on both of my CIs and have no difficulty understanding speech.
 
SkullChick - All observations were made with product on hand I can only assume the product I looked at that day may have been an older model which would have led me to the above Pros and Cons.


Hear Again - My bad the AB had the most electrodes

Thanks both oh you for the corrections I do not want to misslead anyone hear.
 
LadySekhmet said:
I have tried using the HA in my other ear, but my HA at the time of activation was more powerful than my implanted ear, so it wouldn't work. To be honest, as much as you may hate the sounds at activation, it will get better over time.


As for doing both at the same time - Vallee is the only one I know here that really fought to have both done. Some insurance companies will only pay for one. I got lucky. I never had any issues with my insurance. I had one 4 months after the first one.

Vallee have always says that she just had to recover once. It was a bit different, but in her thoughts - why would you go through surgery twice, recover twice etc? I got my second one because I didn't realize how wonderful it was so I requested to have it done before I moved...got the surgery done three days later. :)

So...if you feel really positive about it and just want to get rid of the HA's and feel that you'll really benefit for bilateral...go for it. If you only have wore one HA's your whole life, I do recommend that you do one at a time, otherwise the non-HA ear would fall a little behind.

I hope I am making some sense out of this...
Click to expand...

so true, I am thankful I faught for bilateral cis. The recovery is about a week and one surgery one appointment for mapping and no hearing aids.
 
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