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.

I can't decide for which brand to go for... I'm having choice paralysis.

Honestly, I wish my doc would literally just say "take this implant and device" instead I've been told to search and make your own minds. I'm from South Asia and damn it, these docs are simply too clever for their own good. They're supposed to advise us, not put us in a dilemma.

Problem is I can't tell the difference in how they sound, so I'm thinking about how each brand provides support and maintenance. Are they friendly? I had some discussion with 4 users around my city and 2 medel and 2 cochlear, a coincidence lol. One cochlear user said that after 4 months of operation, their battery was found to be faulty and even the extra was bad, and it took 6 months, with a pay of 60k to have a good pair. It made me think, "What if I encounter this?"

Ok, I admit it. I am genuinely terrified of choosing the "wrong" implant for myself. That invisible pressure is there.

I have no one that I can talk to because dad also asked the audiologist to recommend according to their experience, but he kicked the ball back to us saying, "It's your responsibility sir. It's like choosing which mobile phone you like. We can't make that choice."

So, please help 😭

We are hearing parents of a deaf baby. We need to do some more imaging to confirm, but at this time she is a candidate for CIs and based on previous MRIs will probably be eligible. Does anyone have experience here with kiddos bilaterally implanted very young? She is only 6 1/2 months now and will be somewhere around 11-12 months likely when implanted. We want to know how the kiddos are, how was healing, how was language learning and spoken language after, how old are they now and was there ever regret? Please know that ASL is being learned and used with her already, and even with her implantations it will still be taught and prioritized as much as if not more than english. We recognize she is deaf no matter what so ASL is a must for us all to learn, we just want insight into whether giving her these tools as an option is worth it down the road. We would love personal stories to! I dont know how long implantation on young kids has been an option so if you are an adult who was implanted as a baby we would love to hear from you to!

Thank you for any and all insight!

My wife got her cochlear implant for single-sided deafness less than a year ago. She wears it all day, and has had continuous improvement in a number of areas, but some difficulty listening to books directly into her cochlear ear. Here is her question. She posted this yesterday on her FaceBook group without any response. "I have single-sided deafness and love my improved hearing with a Cochlear Implant. However, it’s really difficult to have true binaural hearing when one ear is hearing acoustically and the other is hearing electronically. I am thinking especially of when I listen to audiobooks or stream media. I either stream through my Cochlear implant while reading the book (though it is sometimes difficult to find both a print copy and an audiobook at the same time) or watch tv w captions — or listen in my hearing ear with an AirPod (while walking outside or?) Can anyone recommend a good set of over the ear headphones to mitigate this problem? Does your hearing seem more binaural?". Her cochlear is by Cochlear America, Model Nucleas 8, over the ear. She uses the TV streaner regularly with subtitles.

I was activated early this year and my Threshold (THR) Mapping is quite narrow. Has anyone else experienced this and eventually got it wider? If so how long did you take you? I'm feeling very frustrated on how long this journey is taking.

Hearing history- born deaf if this is relevant.

Hi! I recently posted that I was getting a left cochlear implant after a SSNHL that impacted my speech rec and thresholds, but that my speech rec never recovered after steroids. Well, a good update: I am going with cochlear which will be implanted in two days. A bad update: my right ear is now following the same pattern. The leading theory is maybe something autoimmune or genetic, waiting on a genetic test still.

Anyway, I’ve worn hearing aids since I was 2 months old (so 22 years now). I felt a lot of shame for a long time about it, and had finally accepted it ~4-5 years ago. Now, I am feeling that same shame and disappointment feeling with the idea of possibly needing two cochlear implants and being Deaf instead of just HoH.

I plan on talking to my therapist about it obviously, but was not sure if anyone had any advice about navigating this change. I never imagined my hearing changing to this degree, the thresholds had gradually gone down over the years but the speech rec is totally new.

Sorry for this long ramble, but I appreciate any advice in advance. Also - if anyone knows any good ways to start learning ASL, please recommend! Thank you!

Hello there,

I‘ve had my reimplantation surgery last tuesday 11.08.2026 and got activated the next day. So far everything works fine and the new hearing is a challenge, but it gets better with each day.

But first about my situation.

I was born deaf and my parents noticed it very quickly. So I got my first implant on my right ear with 15 months old. Surgery was done in germany at the MHH Hanover by Prof. Lenarz. I got the AB Clarion C 1.2 implant.
For the first 9 years I wore the AB platinum series sound processor. It got me through kindergarten and elementary school.
And right at the time to move on to gymnasium (middle/highschool) I got the Harmony sound processor. This was a huge leap and hearing improved so much afterwards. I wore this processor for the next 18 years until this spring, when it had technical problems and it got swapped against a new one.
This was just weeks before I got the letter from AB stating the end of support for the clarion compatible sound processors. This was a shock at first but then I decided to get reimplanted at the same hospital.

First I had to do some tests and examinations:

The first ones were the audiological examinations.
This included testing the movement of the eardrum and testing any residual hearing without my processor.

Next one was a brainstem evoked response audiometry examination (BERA) where I had to lay still and listen to a rattling noise for about an hour and a digital volume tomography, where they did a scan of my cochlear and the electrode inside.

After all these examinations my sound processor and implant got checked by the audiologist at the DHZ (deutsches Hörzentrum/ german hearing center) and following that I had some tests about evaluating my hearing.

Next up was the pre surgery talk with the surgeon Dr. Timm and his team. We talked a bit about the risks, how the surgery would unfold, what implant he would recommend.

Everything was set for the surgery but then they said the DVT-scan was not clear enough and they need a MRI-scan, which can only be done when the magnetic part of the implant is removed.

So they split the surgery into two seperate sessions. The first one would be an explantation of the old implant, where the electrode remains inside me.

After surgery they did the MRI-scan and had a follow up talk with me.

The image was clear and any remaining worries were gone, so I was clear for reimplantation on the next day.

On tuesday 11.08.2026 I was reimplanted with an AB HighRes implant. No complications, everything went fine.

Next day was activation day. Hearing was/ is very high pitched but I was able to understand some words 10 minutes after activation. It got better over the next few days.
I had ti stay at the hospital for a few more days, got antibiotics and steroids daily to help immune system and support the healing process.

Healing goes well so far, movement of the head was a bit limited and opening my jaw wide was a challenge the first two days post OP.

I got released on friday 14.08.2026. Since then I wore my new processor daily for about 2-3 hours. Hearing is high pitched, a bit muffled but I can hold a conversation just fine, need to read the lips a bit. Its not the same hearing as before, which was expected. But I’m amazed with how good it works so far.
Since yesterday the voices start to normalise or jump between high pitched and „normal“. Phone calls are a huge challenge if not impossible atm. Listening to music is possible, I can hear the voices and melody good enough to recognize the songs.
I keep daily notes about what I‘ve heard or what‘s different to the hearing the day before. I focus on the positive changes and so far it‘s been days filled with successful moments. It‘s still a long road ahead until hearing gets better and feels normal again, but I feel confident that the reimplantation was the right choice and that it gets better each day.

If you have any questions, let me know. i try to help you as best as I can. And I hope this wall of text gave you some insights and cleared off your worries and fears regarding reimplantation.

Getting reimplanted in October (C1 recipient). At the pre op appointment the surgeon mentioned several restrictions, including not lifting things over 25 lbs after surgery. However, I neglected to ask how long that restriction is in place and I do have a toddler who will be 18 months at that time. Of course I’ll check with him, but does anyone have any insights on what I should expect?

Mis saludos para todos, tengo 75 años y vivo solo. Hace un mes me activaron el implante y lo poco que he realizado de practica son 45 minutos una vez a la semana con una fonoaudiologa. Entiendo alguna palabras siempre que sepa cuales son la que me van a decir.

Sé que hay varias app para practicar y he usado algunas y casi todas son sonidos y no palabras y me agotan porque no acierto.

Por favor, alguna recomendación de qué sería mejor para mi dada mi condición de edad y de vivir solo.

Estaré muy agradecido.

I’m undecided about which device to get; I want to choose the Sonnet 3, but I wear glasses. Is there anyone here who uses the Sonnet 3? Do you find it comfortable? Please help I need to make a decision within a week.

こんにちは
人工内耳をつけてる者です
ゲームが好きでモンハンやAPEXをしてるんですが、ゲーム内でフレンドとボイスチャットをしたいなと思っています。
そこでPS5に人工内耳をBluetoothで繋げることはできないかと調べているんですけど情報がほとんどない状態で困っています。
なので実際にPS5と人工内耳を繋げてゲームをプレイしてる人や有識者がいたら教えて欲しいです。

**ACCIDENTALLY DELETED SO THIS IS A REPOST**

Okay, I have a question for my fellow CI users who have zero—or almost zero—residual hearing.
I’m bilateral. I’ve been completely deaf for going on 12 years and implanted for almost 6 years now. Without my processors, my world is basically silent.
There were obviously a LOT of sounds I had to get used to after getting implanted. But there is one particular category of sound that nobody—not my surgeon, not my audiologist, not Cochlear—thought to warn me about:
Going to the bathroom with hearing.
Good Lord. 😂
After years of silence, the first time I went to the bathroom while wearing my processors, I remember thinking, “WHY IS EVERYTHING IN HERE SO DAMN LOUD?!”
Six years later, I still haven’t gotten over it.
To this day, when nature calls, I either turn the sensitivity on both processors all the way down to zero or just take the damn things off.
Apparently there are some parts of the hearing world I was perfectly happy not being invited back into.
So I have to know:
Am I the only deaf/CI person who does this, or are there other people out there who basically put their cochlear implants on bathroom mute? 😂

Hello everyone,

I have twins that are 10 months old and just learned that they both have profound hearing loss.

Currently we are working with a cochlear team and we were told we will have to decide between cochlear America, Med-El, or advanced bionics ( the 3 major companies)

Obviously I will be doing a lot of research, but I wanted to reach out and see if anyone had some pros and cons between some of the companies.

Anything would help

Thanks!

I have sonnet 3 (Med-El) and the Bluetooth connection is bleh. They just absolutely refuse stay connected no matter how many times I try to keep them connected to my phone. So I’m looking into headphone that can sit comfortably over my CI and glasses. I really want to enjoy listening music more.

Anyone have recommendations? Or any suggestions?

Okay, I have a question for my fellow CI users who have zero—or almost zero—residual hearing.
I’m bilateral. I’ve been completely deaf for going on 12 years and implanted for almost 6 years now. Without my processors, my world is basically silent.
There were obviously a LOT of sounds I had to get used to after getting implanted. But there is one particular category of sound that nobody—not my surgeon, not my audiologist, not Cochlear—thought to warn me about:
Going to the bathroom with hearing.
Good Lord. 😂
After years of silence, the first time I went to the bathroom while wearing my processors, I remember thinking, “WHY IS EVERYTHING IN HERE SO DAMN LOUD?!”
Six years later, I still haven’t gotten over it.
To this day, when nature calls, I either turn the sensitivity on both processors all the way down to zero or just take the damn things off.
Apparently there are some parts of the hearing world I was perfectly happy not being invited back into.
So I have to know:
Am I the only deaf/CI person who does this, or are there other people out there who basically put their cochlear processors on bathroom mute? 😂