Comment Not a big difference. Pick what's easier to use. (Score 3, Informative) 69
1. You should meet the cochlear implant team yourself to get the most specific and up-to-date info you can get. Advanced Bionics has just had a new device FDA approved and some of the comments I've seen here refer to the older model. With the new one, the magnet can be removed for MRIs. There are also plenty of accessories you can use with it. I don't think the Nucleus has more options just different approaches to the same accessories. For instance, you can use an FM system with both. Nucleus' is just smaller and (I think) wireless. I am an audiologist and I see a lot of people with misinformation. Her own surgeon and audiologists are the ones to ask. Maybe you could find out their email addresses and simply address your questions to them.
2. The doctor is not a quack. A lot of surgeons give patients a choice with cochlear implants because neither (those two or the 3rd FDA approved device) has been shown in research to consistently outperform the other. I would guess she was told this at her appoitnment. Some people will do poorly with an implant, some will do well. Both these devices have people in all ranges of performance.
3. When you get right down to it, these devices are extremely similar. The companies have developed parallel products and borrowed ideas from eachother. I would find it hard to choose between them. Whichever product you and she chooses will be fine. You can't make a bad or wrong choice with these two.
4. In the end, I would make the choice based on which one is easier for her to use on an everyday basis. Do the controls on the external processor make sense to her? Can she easily manipulate them? Can she easily change and/or recharge the batteries? It might be beneficial for you both to speak to the cochlear implant team together, and she can take another look at the external products.
Christine E. (posting with my husband's log in)
piontkofsky@yahoo.com
2. The doctor is not a quack. A lot of surgeons give patients a choice with cochlear implants because neither (those two or the 3rd FDA approved device) has been shown in research to consistently outperform the other. I would guess she was told this at her appoitnment. Some people will do poorly with an implant, some will do well. Both these devices have people in all ranges of performance.
3. When you get right down to it, these devices are extremely similar. The companies have developed parallel products and borrowed ideas from eachother. I would find it hard to choose between them. Whichever product you and she chooses will be fine. You can't make a bad or wrong choice with these two.
4. In the end, I would make the choice based on which one is easier for her to use on an everyday basis. Do the controls on the external processor make sense to her? Can she easily manipulate them? Can she easily change and/or recharge the batteries? It might be beneficial for you both to speak to the cochlear implant team together, and she can take another look at the external products.
Christine E. (posting with my husband's log in)
piontkofsky@yahoo.com
