Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Advanced Bionics - Hearing Loss Indications?

30 replies1.3k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Reply

hi all. been lurking on the forum for a while due to a renewed pursuit of hearing aids that will help.

anyways, i’m a candidate for a in either ear due to my / scores being below 50% in each individual ear despite aided loss being in the mild-moderate ranges. i was told i can choose any of the 3 major companies. and have been researching for weeks on anything i can find to help aid me in my decision to be implanted or wait until my hearing is worse.

i’m currently heavily considering – despite reliability concerns and the recent international lawsuits regarding the field corrective actions. i enjoy my Phonak and most, if not all, of my preference boxes are checked off with AB. my following question will be directed towards my surgeon as well once i meet with him for my initial consult.

AB’s indicates their CIs are meant for those with severe to profound hearing loss ( of ≥70dB) while the other two have broader guidelines for their implants. as someone with my degree of hearing loss, would it be possible for me to be implanted with their CI?

regards

10 people in this conversation24 min readJump to latest
Edited

Looking at your it suggests you’re very borderline for a . From memory another of our CI community has and she was borderline as well. I’ll tag her and hope she will comment. My thoughts are your loss should still be aidable. @joanhawsey. Joan your thoughts?

@celadon said:

i’m a candidate for a CI in either ear due to my WRS / AzBio scores being below 50% in each individual ear despite aided loss being in the mild-moderate ranges.

In the past Cochlear had the most relaxed requirements. This may have since changed when looking at all three brands. To me the insurance companies that help pay for the CI’s is the most important requirement to check into. The CI companies understand all this very well.

Looking at your audiogram you are not even close to a CI candidate. With your word understanding scores being low I would think any CI audiologist would put you in hearing aids that are properly fit for at least 6 months before even thinking CI. Are there other hearing complications we don’t know about?

Thanks for the tag @Deaf_piper. You have an intriguing hearing situation in that your does not present as one that would give you <50% word understanding. It sounds as if you have already had your full evaluation and have been informed that you do meet guidelines for implantation set by insurance companies. It also sounds as if you are eager to improve your ability to communicate and explore different technology beyond what hearing aids offer. I was also borderline in my left ear and I think I only qualified due to some hearing in noise. My audiologist 4 years ago was hesitant to side one way or another on the CI debate and let me make the decision. As for your question, I have AB and am very happy with it. I have the Marvel Link as well. It has all worked much better for me than HAs! I am very happy with the decision, especially since hearing generally only gets worse with age. I would suggest contacting AB and zooming with a rep - they are super helpful and can give you more details and answer the question you have about suitability of AB for your loss. I did this with all three brands and it helped a lot. Also, meeting with your surgeon will help give you more input to answer the “when” questions. Data indicates better results when done on the early side, but you may have time to consider it without much difference.
One thing to consider, especially in your situation. AB is due to come out with a new version based on newer technology. It is not announced yet, but it’s been hinted at strongly and will likely be announced in 2026. In your situation, it may be worth holding to get the new model as it will also have a more updated linked HA model based on one of the more recent Phonak platforms. Go ahead and meet with a surgeon, but get more info before setting a date for surgery. AB likely has a trade up deal for those in your situation.

@Deaf_piper thanks for responding. yes, i was a little surprised to find out i was a candidate. i appreciate you tagging Joan!

@Raudrive i have some speech processing issues that stem from being unaided for so long. i had been wearing the AirPods Pro 2 w/ their amplification for about a year prior to purchasing new hearing aids. my tinnitus is also quite bad and can be frustrating to deal with at times, but i’ve had it all my life. i have the Phonak Audeo i70s at the moment and have just recently orded the Infinio Sphere i70s, which i’m planning on wearing for about 6 months to see if they help prior to pursuing implantation. my insurance is with my clinic so everything’s a go on their end re: .

not sure if i have any other complications besides the processing issues and the tinnitus, but even properly aided my scores are quite low. my loss is progressive and is worse now than it was when i was initially diagnosed. i did ask why the scores don’t seem to match the and the general consensus seems to be that i just don’t have the clarity. my career is very verbal communication-oriented, with a lot of phone and face-to-face communication in a ton of background noise, so it has been debilitating not being able to understand.

the scores i mentioned were the aided ones from the CI evaluation. unaided, my scores are in the low 30%s individually. i appreciate your input, thank you for responding.

@joanhawsey i was surprised as well given the discrepancies between the aided and those aided scores. as mentioned above, my agrees that i believe there are some speech processing issues going on behind the scenes. while both AuDs i’m working with are encouraging me to strongly consider the CI, they are just as happy that i’m pursuing any sort of help with my hearing. i’ve been communicating with the local reps from all 3, i did ask the rep from if i would still qualify for their implant but i have yet to hear back from her after i clarified my loss. the data suggesting earlier implantation is beneficial is also part of the reason why my AuDs are encouraging me to consider CI.

i appreciate the heads up on the new tech!! since i’m already planning on continuing with my HAs for a while longer, this is fantastic news. i’ll definitely wait to see what AB has in store. thank you for responding!

Edited

Based on your , I wouldn’t skip straight into cochlear implantation! I was born with hearing loss around 40dB, managed to not be diagnosed until my hearing dropped started to drop to your levels and didn’t get a cochlear implant until my hearing had progressed to its current levels.

When my hearing loss was similar to yours hearing aids provided SO MUCH! Bass, inflection, things I didn’t know existed.

I got my ~10 years apart and the first one took out all my residual hearing (I barely had any) my second one left my hearing intact (but there was not much intact.) I can still hear thunder in my left ear if it’s right next to me.

I have on both sides and I can’t recommend them enough but if I still had aidable hearing <70db I’d keep my ultra power hearing aids with full silicone earmolds.

for me cochlear implants introduced high pitched sounds to me at 26 years old. I had literally never heard the hiss of high pitched and I found the sound to be irritating and almost painful.

thank you for telling me your perspective, it’s always good to hear from as many people as i can. lots of things have happened since i first posted, and at the moment i will not be proceeding with implantation due to my hesitancy! my audiologist does not want me to go forward with it if i’m not 100% sure because she doesn’t want me to have regrets afterwards. i’m considering myself lucky i have these hearing aids at all!

In reply to @Raudrive

@Raudrive said:

Looking at your audiogram you are not even close to a CI candidate.

@celadon said:

anyways, i’m a candidate for a CI in either ear due to my WRS / AzBio scores being below 50% in each individual ear despite aided loss being in the mild-moderate ranges.

Are there aided lines of the OP or unaided? I am a bit confused.

The most important part is how will you cope with hearing when using hearing aids? Does your percentage is repeatable?

the in my profile are the unaided scores. i apologise for the confusion and wording in the OP.

unaided :
right ear: 36% at 90
left ear: 38% at 90 dB
both: 60% at 85 dB

aided scores:
(quiet) - 60% left, 65% right
AzBio (+10 ) - 47% left, 37% right, 63%
: 22% words + 54% phonemes in right ear, 24% words + 44% phonemes in left ear

this is the aided audiogram with my original test. A is aided left ear, A2 is aided right ear

Document

i think the CNC may be similar to the WRS with a different set of words, but my audiologist had said the aided hearing test is a bit more difficult than the typical unaided tests. when you ask if my WRS is repeatable, do you mean take another unaided audiogram? the one i have on my profile is from late 2025 and before that, my last test was around 2018.

honestly, the hearing aids do help to a certain extent, especially in quiet. most of my day is spent in at least some background noise, and they can’t help with that. i still find myself unable to follow conversations most of the time, have people repeat themselves multiple times even if they’re right in front of me, and the landline office phones we use at work for outgoing calls and intercom use are impossible for me– and they are an integral part of the job. my quality of life has slightly improved by having the hearing aids, and i can socialise a bit more than i could before, but they are not sufficient for the life i live and my career. i am surviving at least!

Thanks for the added information.

I believe 60% and lower get you into ’s. You are closer than I thought earlier.

What has me questioning your scores is your . You have a cookie bite hearing loss. They are known to be more difficult to properly tune aids to.

Are these test results done by the same person that programs your aids? Have you had other audiologists fitting your aids. I am curious if a different audiologist might be helpful. One with cookie bite experience.

Edited

In reply to @celadon

I think you definitely can consider , at least in one (poorer) ear. However, both are probably eligible.

I see quite little improvement in aided scores hence my opinion about thinking even about 2 CIs, not necessarily at once.

Edited

@Raudrive no worries, there was a lot of pertinent info i had left out prior. my compared to my scores was something i had asked my audiologist about, although i can’t remember now what she’d told me. (ETA 2/23: i remembered she told me that i may have some auditory processing issues that stem from being unaided so long / comes with the territory sometimes) the original audiogram was done by a different audiologist than the one that programs my aids. she had just done the tests, mentioned she doesn’t suggest hearing aids as they most likely wouldn’t benefit me anymore, and offered some basic information on – that was it. a few days later i decided to pursue hearing aids and found my current audi. she doesn’t do hearing tests as far as i know, but she has been amazing with everything i had questions about and i’m very happy with the way she’s programmed my aids thus far. she was also the one that got me into contact with my CI audiologist and they’ve been keeping each other informed throughout my whole journey.

when i exchanged my infinios for the sphere infinios a few months ago, i did get them fitted with a different HA audiologist who used , but i wasn’t very happy with it and had my audiologist change it back to her original settings. she had also increased the gain to 110% for me as i always had the volume maxed out at work. i do believe she has experience with cookie bite loss as she had mentioned it can be difficult for other to program for it.

prior audiologists had never done REM testing. i was even fitted for the basic domes for my last pair through an independent seller/clinic(?), but no follow-ups nor support were given. they were awful! definitely not enough for my hearing loss. my grandparents had bought me those aids and i was still a teenager, so none of us knew better.

@Bimodal_user both are indeed eligible and it has been mentioned i could do both ears, but my clinic and hospital will only do one at a time for healing purposes. i would only be interested in being for the time being. i will give it some more thought in the meantime.

thank you both for your responses!

Sorry, I’m late to this thread. I had an implanted in my right ear July of 2024. I have a Phonak Link in the left. I did a ton of research before deciding on AB.

I’ve been thrilled with it. The and HA work together to give me the best word understanding I’d had in decades. Is it perfect? No. Is it worth it? Yes!! I’ve had no real problems with the equipment.

Here are some of the reasons I picked AB. Some may now be available from the other companies:

  1. The CI and HA work together and are adjusted by the same app.
  2. Bluetooth streaming from my phone to both devices.
  3. The availability of a HA for my “better” ear if needed. (A CROS sends the sounds to the CI rather than amplifying the sound in that ear.) If my “better” ear tanks, I will try a CROS instead of getting another CI.
  4. The T-mic.
  5. Being able to get a
  6. I didn’t get the Aqua case to allow me to swim but it is an option.
  7. So far the customer service has been great.

thank you for responding! a lot of those reasons are why i’ve decided to go with in the future. while the recent lawsuits and recalls do have me worrying, it seems they have tightened up their quality control with what my AB rep had told me, and the reliability of the newer version of their Ultra 3D implant seems to be much better than the first batch.

what i took into account:

  • my own familiarity with Phonak and relatively pain-free option in the future. would be keeping my Sphere Infinios until i decide to / am able to upgrade
  • t-mic – med-el rep told me it was all marketing from AB since i wouldn’t be able to hear from my canals anyway, but it seems like the added microphone and the “natural” noise collection would help a bit with localisation in theory. haven’t looked too deep into the data with this one, but i do like it.
  • current steering / high PPS seems great! don’t know too much about sound or electronics stuff, but it looks like it would help somewhat with pitches. rep didn’t explain this in-depth.
  • base colours and design - if something will be on my head and visible, i’d like to make it mine. the Sky M colours are beautiful, and i know they can be mapped to adults, which would be a fun change from all the boring beiges i’ve had on my . i also very much like the buttons on the processors themselves, and prefer those to touch keys as i am not able to use my phone all that much at my job.
  • bluetooth connectivity. i’m aware the other two are catching up, but i like the seamlessness as i use my tech all the time and don’t want to potentially carry more items to charge and replace.
  • responsiveness of my rep. Cochlear Americas didn’t really reach out to me all that much to talk, they just send lots of ads / resources. Med-el and AB did, but my rep from AB was much more personal and reached out after i had my and other CI eval. appointments to ask how they went. little things like that are nice, and i know she and my CI audiologist have a great working relationship, so it seems like help will be much less of a headache to procure when necessary.
  • location - this one was an afterthought. all three have a very large presence in the surrounding areas due to the universities and hospitals, but AB would be the easiest to reach if necessary.
  • upgradeability and future-ready tech seems nice. i was told by my rep that all implants placed since 2001 have been able to update their firmware and processors and will continue to be supported. cochlear’s nexa system has failed to wow me, and med-el seems a little behind with their technology, though their customer service seems great.

the only thing i can’t see is the availability of an online storefront to order replacements or accessories, whether in or out of warranty. i found the online order form after some digging, but it seems messy and out-of-date. i would hate to have to talk to AB or bother my audiologist for any of these things.

if my audiologist recommends a different manufacturer, i trust her enough to go with her recommendation. however, she and my surgeon have both declined to recommend anything, saying that all 3 will do the same thing and it really is just what would fit my lifestyle and preferences.

It seems that we have a similar hearing situation, @celadon. Cookie-bite in my hearing loss is bringing me difficulties in speech understanding as well, despite having Phonak Audeo Lumity L90. Recently I was talking to a surgeon about hybrid (electrical acoustic stimulation) and the surgeon prefer not to proceed with it as long as I am able to understand speech sufficiently by adjusting my further, and he suggested to try adjusting them on my own (since cookie bite hearing lost is very hard to adjust even by experienced audiologists). He suggested to wait for any surgery, since technology is improving very fast recently, and it might be that involvement will significantly improve speech recognition by incorporating it with more reactivity in HA. He mentioned another possibility in genetic therapy, which may be developed in the following years as well. Therefore, in this phase I have started with adjusting my HA on my own, testing each step in a real world and I can already see the improvement in understanding speech. Hearing training by speech therapist was helpful for me as well, since with each hearing regression step, our brain has to learn how to adjust. Moreover, I have made genetic test and awaiting for the results in order to better understand the cause of my family’s hearing loss and afterwards to check further if anything can be made in order to prevent further hearing loss or even improve it to a certain degree (maybe by dietary changes, supplements etc., about which nobody is talking about, but it might influence as I saw in my mother’s case since I see some hearing improvement due to a few supplements).

all good advice here, thank you! i’ve never met someone with hearing loss so similar to mine. unfortunately ’ing my hearing aids would sever the doctor-patient relationship i have with my audiologist or void the warranty, as it’s something i have asked about before. if i were to DIY it would be after my warranty period has ended. thankfully, so far my hearing aids are perfectly where i’d like them to be regarding clarity, crispness, and amplification.

it’s interesting the difference our audiologists/surgeons have regarding . do you still have decent speech recognition despite the loss? mine don’t think future technology or increased amplification will provide meaningful improvement. it was also discussed at the surgery consult and one of my CI appointments that gene therapy and stem cell therapy will not be clinically available for quite some time.

do you have any suggestions as far as supplements or dietary changes go? i believe reducing sugar intake helps minimize tinnitus?

Speech recognition is a problem for me as well, but it depend on frequencies of the person’s voice and the surrounding noise. I have one free app “Decibel X” which is measuring frequencies, which is very useful for me. After checking person’s frequencies, I have adjusted my to be the most suitable for my family’s voices with which I am communicating the most often. Before staring with adjustments in by Phonak Target software, I added a few new programs in myPhonak app, in which it is also possible to make some useful adjustments.
I agree that gene therapy will not be available for a few years for our specific hearing loss (of course, the most of gene therapies will be aiming towards children for which hearing is essential in early years of life, and that is ok), nevertheless I am optimistic due to invention of a new methods that are developing for gene therapies and a shift to a therapy personalization. Have you already made a genetic test in order to check which gene mutation is the cause of your hearing loss?
Regarding supplements, it should be checked individually by your doctor and in medical lab if you are deficient in something. My mother was deficient in vitamin D and vitamin B12, and by supplementing both, her hearing improved, which surprised me.
How old are you, @celadon (if it is not too personal question)?

Thank you, yes, I did do genetic testing as a child and I was negative for ~250 genes tested, including connexin 26 and 30. I was thinking of having my whole genome sequenced, but that is something that will have to wait.

My bloodwork comes up as normal, no deficiencies except for one time many years ago I was slightly anemic and had a deficiency of Vitamin D. Quickly fixed by eating better and getting more sun / Vitamin D supplements for a week. I can possibly order another lab either through my clinic or from an independent lab to see if there’s anything new.

I am 24 years old.

Is your hearing loss hereditary, @celadon? Genetic mutations for hearing loss tested in various genetic labs (called “panels for hearing loss” which are sometimes divided in syndromic and non-syndromic hearing loss) consists today of around 288 gene mutations (it is the case of the lab to which I have sent my sample), but that list is updating since every year a new ones are found. In my case, hearing loss is non-syndromic autosomal dominant, and there are about 90 gene mutations (known up to now) that cause hearing loss that is non-syndromic and inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Also, there are various levels of quality of genetic labs (levels of reading etc.), therefore some labs cannot find specific mutations if they are rare, while some other labs can.

no, we don’t know the etiology at all. as far as we know it isn’t hereditary, but i’ve been told it’s congenital. no history of hearing loss in my family other than .

that inspires me to do some more testing, thank you.

Related discussions