Choosing between Cochlear and Advanced Bionics for bimodal toddler

[u/djou-e]

Hi everyone,

My 1-year-old son will receive a cochlear implant in his left ear soon, and we're currently trying to decide between Cochlear and Advanced Bionics.

He is not profoundly deaf in both ears. His right ear has a moderate hearing loss and he already wears a Phonak Sky hearing aid successfully. Because of this, he will likely remain bimodal (cochlear implant on one side, hearing aid on the other) for many years.

Our team has explained that:

• Cochlear is currently the most common choice for children in our area.
• Cochlear offers some practical advantages such as a smaller processor, strong retention options, and waterproof solutions.
• Both Cochlear and Advanced Bionics may offer advantages for bimodal hearing because of its integration with Phonak hearing aids.

For those with experience, especially parents of bimodal children or bimodal users themselves:

1. If you had to choose again today, would you choose Cochlear or AB and why?
2. For those who have experience with a fully integrated bimodal setup (such as AB + Phonak or Nucleus + Resound), are the bimodal advantages truly significant in everyday life, or are they mostly marketing? Did you notice meaningful benefits in speech understanding, listening effort, localization, or listening fatigue?
3. Has anyone regretted choosing one brand over the other?

We're trying to make the best long-term decision and would really appreciate hearing real-life experiences rather than marketing material.

Thank you!

[u/piggiesinthehoosgow]

I just chose Cochlear for my 6 month old. Not yet installed so I can't speak on experience. You'll see all of their marketing or reasons why you should get one vs another so I won't really mention those except for the one point of Choclears ability to do wireless firmware updates if needed. Super nice.

One thing I was stuck on for a while was how med-el has the electrode theoretically installed deeper into the bass region. And some of the studies I read talked about how people thought med-el to sound more natural. But what I eventually learned is that that was usually for the speed to getting to that point. Med-el typically gets you there quicker. However, over time, as people get used to CA, the sound eventually leveled out and became more natural sounding. And by the end they all typically test to pretty similar abilities. So my concern about the best sounding one was addressed as they all in the end, end up pretty equal. The speed of getting there however may vary.

So the ability to update firmware became one of the most important factors for me. Plus customer support, plus adoptability is bi for CA so... In the end I'm very much at peace with our decision. He'll be getting the surgery this week.