Experience with Advanced Bionics Bicros Implant?

Hi Steven,
I have been an Advanced Bionics user for 3 years now. I have the Advanced CI implant in my right hear and the Phonak “sister” hearing aid in the left hear. It is called a Binaural system and the Phonak hearing aid and the Advanced Bionics CI communicate. There is a single app on my phone that controls both. The app and the way the binaural system works is very effective and easy to handle. I have heard stories for Med El users and Cochlear Americas users that the apps are cumbersome and difficult with cell phones and so forth. None of that is true with the AB system. My issues center around things that are hard to describe and difficult to get the AB folks to solve. (1) I’m 76, but still a very active acoustic guitar player and play in a country group and worship team at church. The AB handling of music is a disappointment to me. I have a professional hearing therapist friend who works with new CI patients and in her opinion, Med El has by far the best music technology. Of course, that is subjective and hard to quantify. So, music has been very disappointing. (2) Treble / Bass. Most hearing aids adjust treble and bass. My most significant loss was in the high end (treble). Now, treble is so overpowering and there seems to be no way to reduce it which really, really frustrates me. Also, when I was first implanted, I was inundated with a low grade “boiling egg” sound. If I got near the refrigerator, I could hear the fan running on the refrigerator which I could never hear with just hearing aids. But, in addition to the fan, I would hear a very troublesome boiling sound that patterned the fan. Likewise, in my car, if a car or truck passed me, I could hear the normal road noise, but in addition, all the road noise produced a low end boiling noise. I worked with my AB audiologist who brought in an AB regional tech specialist. I brought a noise maker from home that has a fan. I turned on the fan in the audiologist’s office and they began to turn off, one by one, the bass end electrodes on the implant (there are a total of 21 electrodes on the implant I believe). When they got to the 4th low end electrode, the boiling went away. So, that eased some of the boiling noise, but it also really reduced my low end, which makes the high end treble more overpowering. So now, if I am driving and it starts sprinkling, it sounds like glass beads are hitting the windshield - extreme treble. The AB folks tried putting some low end electrodes back on line, but that actually made it worse. Now, a year later, I’m hearing the boiling in the high end too. I will be trying a new round of visits to try to remove this boiling noise. (3) I was warned that talking in a crowd is difficult and it is. There are several settings, but none of them solve this issue. Just get ready for whatever implant you choose that trying to communicate in a noisy church lobby for instance will not be pleasant and some voices get drowned out.
Summation: In spite of my issues, I would do it all over again the same way. I now have over 90% word recognition in a booth environment and it was below 50% before the CI. So, even with music being so bad, I can hear my 12 grandchildren and normal communication is much better. Telephone conversations are near perfect. Here is the strange thing. If I listen to streaming music through bluetooth to my CI, it is perfect. But, when the CI has to take it in as acoustic sounds, it is not as good. I have no way of knowing if Med El is truly better with music, but many have said that. But, my audiologist and surgeon would not work with the Med El because of the complicated nature of the product. So, my only choices were Cochlear Americas and Advanced Bionics.

That’s the same CI I am using. I’m sorry you are having issues. I am binaural - a Phonak hearing aid and the Naida CI - M90 CI. They are supposed to communicate to one another, and from my experience for 3 years, I think they do. But, you are a dual CI. I know this - if the hearing aid is not on or not joined, and the only hearing device is the CI, it sounds so distorted and mechanical with no true presence. It sounds very treble overloaded. When I add in the Phonak HA, the sound rounds out. It appears I’m getting the low frequencies as well as some over all tone improvement from the Phonak. When it “blends” with the CI, I get a reasonable rendition of what is going on. The Phonak gives the natural quality back to the sound. The CI brings in all highs and consonants, so the combination of the two is what makes my system work. The guitar sounds so fake and over burdened with highs and treble. I’ve been told by many that Med El is far better with music, but that Med El has a cumbersome phone app. It is a shame that there is no way to hear and compare the quality of the sound from Cochlear Americas, AB and Med El. The surgeons and audiologists give you no guidance. They say “they are all good.” It would be tragic to go through the expense and pain of another surgery to removed AB and installed Med El and then find out that AB has a better music reproduction sound. So, I’m at a loss of what to do next. But, my surgeon would not install Med El - only Cochlear Americas and Advanced Bionics. His statement was that Med El is too complicated to install and the audiologist stated that the Med El’s app is cumbersome. Therefore, they do not support it. So, basically, my two choices were AB and Cochlear Americas. Here is the problem we all have. There is no way to do a comparison because everyone’s hearing issues are different. So, you have to made a decision and go with it.

Thank you for your responses. I wish we had learned of AB’s deceptive practices before we chose them. We looked at AB because of their ability to withstand so many MRi’s and its technology. How sad that AB deceived so many people that put their trust in them. Trust in KARMA to deal with them.
My son had brain cancer at age 7 and lost most of his hearing from the chemo & radiation. He was one of the first kids to survive Medulloblastoma back then, now the success rate is much better. Saving his life took its toll on him from the hearing loss and TBI from the surgeries. Every day is a gift and we are grateful.

We meed with the surgeon next week to regroup and plan for Success.

I just looked into it and found the information. It involved allegedly misrepresented the results of radio-frequency (RF) emissions tests. Allegedly means it was never proven in this case. Nonetheless, it’s a bad look. Also, the infraction happened quite a few years ago. I don’t think Medicare would approve and pay for AB cochlear implants it there was still a real problem. The complaint was about RF emission testing that evaluates the electromagnetic energy emitted by a device to ensure compliance with regulatory standards and prevent interference with other devices. It involves measuring both conducted emissions (emissions traveling through cables) and radiated emissions (emissions through the air). The goal is to ensure the device doesn’t emit excessive RF energy that could harm other systems or devices. There is no mention of it being dangerous to individuals. There is no reason not to consider AB as a viable choice of cochlear implants.