Seeing the Implants
Tammy was shown two implants, one from Advanced Bionics (HiRes90K) and the other by Cochlear (Freedom). She touched and held them. Both had a small magnet on one side in the center, and the other side held the tiny electrode array that would be implanted in the cochlea. Each of the small implants easily fit in her hand - "smaller than the size of a business card but only slightly larger than a quarter."Meanwhile, the electrode array of the Cochlear brand implant appeared to be curved to fit a cochlea, and was "no larger than the tip of a pen." On the other hand, the Advanced Bionics brand electrode array was less curved, but also smaller than a tip of a pen.
Overall, the Advanced Bionics brand looked like a small mouse with a tail," while the Cochlear brand "looked like a small mouse with two tails." To further clarify, Tammy said that that is what the part holding the magnet looked like. In addition, the magnet portion was about the size of a 675 hearing aid battery but thinner than said battery. The magnet's small size surprised her, and she realized the magnet had to be very strong to hold the external headpiece in place.
Examining the Processors
The external processors were handed to Tammy to examine. She was told that the Cochlear Freedom had just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while the Advanced Bionics processor was now "approved for MRI compatibility at 1.5 tesla." Both processors were Behind the Ear (BTE) style, with the Advanced Bionics processor being slightly larger due to a more powerful battery. In terms of features, the Advanced Bionics' processor had a t-mic for phone usage and the Cochlear processor did not. Tammy also pointed out that "The Auria BTE processor also had various connects (direct connect, firefly, tmic, regular) and the (Cochlear) Freedom has one." Another important difference was water resistance; the Cochlear Freedom is splash resistant and the Advanced Bionics' processor was not. Eisenhower remarked that this feature made the Freedom attractive for young children, while the Advanced Bionics might be more appropriate for a working adult. Splash resistance means that getting sprinkled (as in running under a sprinkler, or splashing above water in a pool) will not harm the processor, but swimming underwater in a pool would still harm the processor. (Your guide remarked that if they ever came up with processor that you can wear while swimming, she would be the first one to get it).How Long Til They Wear Out?
Each implant has an internal part warranty of 10 years. The external parts have a three-year warranty. Tammy is looking into her insurance options for the external and internal parts of the implant. She assured me that she would be able to obtain adequate insurance to cover the cost of replacing the processors if need be.Sound Quality Differences
Tammy learned that there is a key difference in how sound is processed by the implants: "A significant difference between the Advanced Bionics HiRes90k and the Cochlear version is that the multiple electrodes are fired simultaneously (at once) to produce more "natural" and "seem-like as it happens" sound on the Advanced Bionics version. The Cochlear has many electrodes but can only fire one at a time."No Body Processor? Not So Fast..
According to Tammy (and I was surprised to learn this), everyone starts out with a body-worn processor after surgery. But these are not the processors of many older deaf people's body hearing aid nightmares. For example, the Cochlear body processor was about the size of a cigarette lighter, and the Advanced Bionics body processor was similar in size to a small pager. In addition, there are few, if any, wires. Tammy was told she could select two devices for use after surgery. She could have two BTEs, two Body Worn Processors, or one of each.Tammy explained that the reasoning is that the implant teams want implantees to learn how to play with all the features, adjust settings, and try out programs. Body worn processors are easier for the early "play" time than BTE processors, and the body worn processors have more programs. Plus, programs on the body worn processors are different from programs on the BTE processors and users can experiment.
