by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
It’s always hard to separate the truth from the hype on most manufacturer’s websites. This is just as true on the cochlear implant websites. Each site touts their product as being the latest and the greatest and the one that incorporates the latest technology, blah, blah, blah.
Thus it is always nice to have an independent person evaluate the features of the various cochlear implants and give a (reasonably) unbiased opinion of them.
This has been lacking for cochlear implants since Jim Ellis compiled his cochlear implant comparison chart back in 2007. (No longer in existence.) Now, that is changed.
Thanks to Rachel Chaikof, you can print out an up-to-date 13-page comparison of the latest Cochlear (Nucleus), Advanced Bionics and Med-El cochlear implants that she compiled and has posted at Cochlear Implant Online. She apparently updates this report fairly regularly. Her last report was updated on February 15, 2011 so it should be current.
You can view Rachel’s cochlear implant comparison report here then click on the download link.
I have been implanted by AB since September 2010 and did well with speech recognition test results in the 80, 70 and 60th percentiles by January 2011. Then in April it all started going downhill with episodes of loudness and my recognition levels dropped to the 20 and 30 percentiles. Non invasive procedures have proved nothing, but AB is going to reimplant me when the FDA approves of their recall issues. Any thoughts or advice? I also had a middle fossa craniotomy at the same time to repair the superior ear bone that was missing, bilaterally, which is supposedly genetic. It is called a dehiscence.
People ask me if it is worth the risk to be re-implanted and by the same company. After researching the varied companies, I have concluded that it is worth the risk, and to go with the same company. CI’s are prosthetic devices and there are not guarantees.
Do you agree?
Best regards,
Roberta
I love your opening statement, “It’s always hard to separate the truth from the hype on most manufacturer’s websites. This is just as true on the cochlear implant websites.”
I tried figuring out if a website was CI-company owned (it will be marketing material) and independent sites. It was sometimes difficult.
Prior to surgery, I landed on a website through a 3rd party. I did not see it was owned by one of the three companies. I did see it appeared that people were on “happy pills,” as I called them. I even had a bit of a snippy exchange with someone on alldeaf.com when I warned them of my experience. One of the posters got so angry that she said it was a reportable offense to badmouth them. She was too late because I complained to a company rep about my experience. I replied to one comment a woman made – she was afraid of surgery and I simply agreed I was, too. Logical. Surgery may come with problems. BUT within hours of my reply, I received an email from the owners of the website telling me to delete my comment later that night or they would do it for me. I had gone to bed and my comment was deleted (as well as the woman’s comment to which I replied). Later, I learned it was owned by one of the three CI companies here.
An owner of a website is allowed to write just about anything and control the information from the outside. However, what this indicates is the information we read as we’re trying to figure out if we want the CI or not is anywhere from misleading or lying. That’s the problem and that’s what you warn.
My suggestion based on this and other experiences is if you are investigating the getting a CI, first ask who is the owner of the website and if they are affiliated with any of the three FDA-approved companies. If the answer is yes, I’d move to a non-CI company controlled website.
When the media puts out a story, ignore it. It’s the media and usually a company is behind the story – ESPECIALLY if the results from the surgery are complete positive and/or if the processing sounds (and understanding) occurs immediately.
I’m in a group that regrets my decision. I’m far from ignorant or stupid and I relied on what I read even with my grains of salt.