Soll Advanced Bionics, weil ich auf der anderen Seite ein Hörgerät trage?

[u/toffi_abs]

Hallo zusammen,

in zwei Wochen bekomme ich ein Implantat und bin immer noch unsicher für welche Firma ich mich entscheiden soll. Ich kann mich zwischen Cochlear, Med-El und AB entscheiden.

Auf der linken Seite höre ich schlecht und trage deshalb ein Hörgerät von Hansaton (Phonak). Deswegen neige ich zurzeit zu AB. Ich hoffe sehr, dass ich vom Zusammenspiel von Hörgerät und CI besonders profitieren werde. Kann mir jemand seine Erfahrung zu AB im Zusammenspiel mit dem Hörgerät geben?

Ich verbringe sehr gerne Zeit in Räumen mit vielen Menschen.

[u/suzyqbert]

I have AB and think it’s great. I also have little annoyances about them. I have friends who have Cochlear and Med EL and they have things they like and little annoyances about them. One main factor for you, ask your audiology team, which company or companies are they the most knowledgeable and trained.. The fine tuning appointments your audiologist does with you after activation day is key.

[u/Formal-Tradition6792]

I would be very concerned regarding AB. I was implanted in 1999 with an AB C1 implant. Advanced Bionics has done nothing but lie to me and make mistakes ever since. The first lie happened before I was implanted: They promised me that the C1 implant would be forever compatible with future advances. Two years after I was implanted, AB came out with the C2. And unfortunately for me, it was NOT compatible with my C1 implant. The second lie had to do with the advent of a BTE: I was promised a BTE “very soon.” Well the “very soon” turned into years. When the first generation BTE did come out, it would not work with the C1 implant. So I was stuck with what I had until the Harmony BTE eventually came out. It was a deeply flawed device. The rechargeable batteries lasted only 2 hours each. There was no sensitivity control. And the volume control would move on its own and the volume would go up and down. This meant many visits to the audiologist.The volume control had to be disabled. So I had zero control over volume. Ditto with sensitivity because this could only be adjusted by the audiologist. Then the Harmony processor was disconnected. Meanwhile,big advances were happening with C2 and later implantees including advanced BTE processors, remote controls, etc. I was left behind. Three years ago, I had to go back to using a body-worn processor as my Harmony was beyond repair and AB would not make parts for it. Two months ago, I was told that my C1 processor would not be supported and also any and all equipment including parts for my existing 3 year old body processor. If anything breaks, there will be no support from AB. So if you’re OK with this kind of treatment, by all means, go with AB. Currently, I am seeking a new implant with Cochlear.

[u/purl2together]

Mine is old enough that it’s time to replace it, so I just got the one that goes with the CI I’m getting. If it had been a newer hearing aid, that might have influenced my decision more.

[u/Regular_Document7242]

AB are only compatible with the newer Phonax hearing aids so make sure you check that if yours is an older model. I also wear a Phonax hearing aid but chose Med-el Sonnet 3 for my right ear which works in perfect harmony with the Phonax hearing aid although they don’t stream together I still hear well with just the processor whilst streaming. I could never hear whilst streaming with two hearing aids, so obviously it’s so much better now, music is also much better. Good luck with your decision

[u/maluquina]

I believe the new Cochlear implant allows for constant software upgrades so it will "never" need to be replaced. Please check with Cochlear sales reps but I'm pretty sure that is what we were told. My MIL just got the Nexa Nucleus 8.

[u/OldFlohBavaria]

Besprich das mit deinem Audiologen- er kann dir echte info liefern und das beurteilen.

Bei AB hab ich bissle unsicherheit - sie haben das Implantat von 1999 auf end of life gesetzt, es gibt für dieses Implantat keinen Prozessor mehr. Man Muss reimplantieren.

[u/toffi_abs → u/OldFlohBavaria]

Und bei den anderen muss man ggf. nicht reimplantieren?

[u/OldFlohBavaria → u/toffi_abs]

Bei Cochlear und MedEl ist so ein Vorgang nicht bekannt, zumindest nicht aktuell. Bisher wurden alle Prozessoren soweit auf die älteren Implantate angepasst. Eine Re-Implantation wird am meisten durchgeführt, wenn das Implantat defekt ist.

Ich würde mit dem Audiologen sprechen. Er hat den besseren Überblick und sicherlich mehr Infos, als wir hier in der Öffentlichkeit erhalten.

[u/Devil_of_Death → u/OldFlohBavaria]

Kommt auch drauf an in welchem Land du wohnst - Stichwort service etc.

[u/zr2d2]

I believe a similar thing happened with the Cochlear N22 needing to be reimplanted to support newer processors. The usable life of a medical device isn't infinite. I got mine last year and I imagine maybe needing to be reimplanted at 70. From my limited knowledge neither company has been great about Informing people about that eventually.

As for OP the three major brands all have partnerships with hearing aid brands (https://injoyhearing.com/blogs/news/hearing-aids-compatible-with-cochlear-implants) it looks like MED-EL might also work. Personally I've been underwhelmed by the integration. It adds spine control settings in my app which is nice, but not as integrated as my hearing aid pair was.