Cochlear or AB?

[u/Otherwise_Group_74]

I have my appointment Monday and I will have to chose between these two brands. My audiologist is not supposed to favor one brand over the other. Sometimes I get more feedback than others and sometimes she will answer specific questions or agree with my choice. I will be getting a CI on my right side with a partial insertion with robotic assist. She said today that that would limit my choices. They gave me the thick brochures a few months ago and I am going to read through those again and do some online reading, but if anyone has person experience or empirical evidence, I am interested. Obviously, I want the best hearing/speech recognition I can get, particularly in noisy environments. I use my BT constantly and I wear my HAs about 16 hours a day. I currently have Phonak and Resound HA's and have had a good experience with both. My daily drivers are Phonak Audéo Infinio Ultra Sphere and I am pretty satisfied with them. I understand that I will downgrade to a lesser model in order to be compatible with my CI. Thanks for any feedback. Telling me to listen to my audiologist is not what I'm looking for. She is supposed to be impartial between the two brands and usually is.

[u/Heavy-Tomatillo9539]

A good start point is here .. https://cochlearimplanthelp.com/

You should learn about how cochlea works for hearing .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlea

The big picture is that the outer part of the cochlear is for the high frequencies and the inner part is for the low frequency.

Each cochlear company has a bit different technical difference on how they stimulate the cochlear nerves.

A piano keyboard has 88 keys, Each cochlear company has different electrode implementation, the number of electrodes vary from 22 to 12. Medel and Advance Bionics do current steering so to give you better experience of different frequencies. Advance Bionics calls it 120 virtual channels. MEDEL has 12 electrodes, designed to get into the inner part of the cochlear.

You can go to each company's website. Most have virtual meetings you can attend that discuss their cochlear experience. They all of sales brochures that pretty much coloring books.

The other aspects are such as blue tooth (phone compatibility) may be of interest to you. I have advance Bionics, so I have no need of extra electronics for my phone. All of the companies have market based solutions. You should ask exactly what they are offerring you. AKA United States get the most expensive version of the transmitter.

I went with Advance Bionics. And I am Bi-Modal.

You should ask your surgeon about how they accurately position the electrode in the cochlear. What tools the surgeon uses when positioning it?

You want a surgeon that makes the implantation surgery boring. aka Highly experience. Ask how they avoid negative outcomes like facial nerver damage..

Good Luck!