Has anyone had experience with the Advanced Bionics Bicros system? I’m contemplating going that direction and would appreciate input from anyone with that CI system. TIA
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.
Thank so much for taking the time to answer my question. I really appreciate your input and your thoughts. This is the sort of helpful information I am looking for. I am sorry that there are some elements that have not been as amazing as you had hoped, but I am very encouraged to learn that, overall, you have no regrets that the AB system has made your life better. I have been an organist in my local church, so your thoughts about music are very helpful to me. Another question for you, if you don’t mind: does the system have any kind of TCoil capabilities? A local theater has the Listen system installed, which works amazingly well with TCoils, and my church also has a TCoil broadcast from the podium microphone, both of which have been a huge plus for me. My Cochlear implant that I already have does NOT have any kind of a TCoil system, so I do wonder if AB offers anything like that with the bicross (binaural) system, since there is, in effect, a hearing aid receiver and transmitter involved. Thank you again for taking the time to help me out. I am grateful, and I appreciate your candor about what your AB system has given you. Best of future success to you!
@StevenBrantley what CI do you already have?
I have an N8 and I have the telecoil function available to use if I need to.
@StevenBrantley I have made similar experiences like @Guitardreamer ! Instead of HA and CI I have 2 CIs with the AB Naída CI-M90 Processor. I hear most people’s voices very distorted and it’s hard to follow conversations. AB does not know, how to help me.
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.
Hi Guitardreamer,
I have had an AB implant for about 10 hours now (not to be turned-on until Feb 8). My implant is on the L and I’m to get a high-power Phonak HA on the R. Surgery was at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.
Of course, I now have a headache and my hearing is very muddled. I have a white plastic cup over my L ear to hold the dressing and one KS10 HA on the R ear.
I’ll describe my experience when I have some to describe.
— Fred
My son is 33, He got the AB device in Feb of this year. After activation it worked good for about a month and then he started having problems. Suddenly one morning we found that a loud noise would trigger a facial muscle twitch. We went in for them to look at the programming and they went through all of the frequencies and found one no longer worked and shut it off. Then they adjusted all of the frequencies up and down and found that several frequencies would trigger the twitch with a loud noise. They lowered them and we were good for a few weeks. Then suddenly one morning as soon as he put his device on without any noises he got the twitch, we fired up his backup device ( AB gives you 2 devices) and found the same problem so it is something in his implant is causing the issue. We again went in for programming and this time they shut off 2 more frequency ranges and lowered the remaining one an additional 15%. The AB rep joined the meeting by video, I asked her if it could be a device failure and she responded that she didn’t think so, she blamed his physiology. His hearing now is worse then before the surgery.
We are looking at a revision now and AB does make a different implant style that fits different in the cochlea differently. I asked the surgeon if given what we now know and his issues with the first device would she recommend the second AB device or ? She responded that she suggests a Cochlear this time. I just found this on the web, the AB failure rate seems very high…
If anyone else has a similar issue please message me.
thanks
Rob
Sorry to hear that story. All of you must be pulling your hair out.
I wanted AB, always wore Phonak aids, but surgeon said I shouldn’t. When I asked why he said Cochlear was hands down more reliable and much better support. I can say the Cochlear support has been nothing but fantastic. I do miss the hands free calls but that seems to be coming in LE Audio.
I am one that believes all three brands are pretty much the same when they are functioning properly. The results are the person wearing the processors and how much rehabilitation or practice they put into whatever they are trying to hear. This includes noisy environments and music.
I wish your son great results with his next CI.
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@user556 I’m sorry your son is having all these problems with his internal array…It’s well publicized that AB do have a known failure rate. I also thought about getting an AB implant, as I also had Phonak aids and liked them. But after thoroughly researching AB, I decided to opt for Cochlear.
I have a Cochlear 5 series array, & N8 processor. I’ve had 1 electrode turned off, and 1 locked at a certain level as they were causing huge balance problems. Had I not had something to grab a hold of I would have fallen off the chair I was sitting on. My electrode was resting on my vestibular nerve which was causing my issues. I’ve not had any further issues with my array since. It’s been 6 years now without any further problems.
I wish your son all the very best when he’s re-implanted. Please keep up updated on how he is going… Good luck on his new journey 
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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.
What “deceptive practices?”
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My sister had her 2 AB’s replaced early this year, they were less than 2 tears old, so far all seems to work OK with the new ones.
I really don’t believe AB has deceptive trade practices. Maybe higher failure rates.
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I was referring to AB falsifying test results for certification. You can google the lawsuit for more info
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.
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If you read my original post, my son has an AB implant that needs to be removed. Our surgeon is recommending we go to a Cochlear brand
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Is it a problem with the AB implant specifically or just where the electrodes happen to sit? That is, could the same thing happen with the electrodes of any other implant design, given that they all go into the cochlear and this area is riddled with other nearby nerves which might get activated by the impulses?
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I’m sorry your son has problems with AB implant. If there is a problem, then you obviously have to do whatever you can to fix it.
For what it’s worth, it’s been almost two years and I have been VERY pleased with my AB implant. I researched all the brands throughly before deciding. I found that ALL three brands have a history of failure and recalls. I also learned that not everyone benefits from the surgery and that placement of the electrodes is a crucial element for success. All of this is why I was afraid and waited so long before I had the surgery.
I did ask my surgeon about AB’s recall problem and he said that he was satisfied that AB had fixed the moisture problems that had led to the last recall. He confirmed that he had seen recalls for both AB and Cochlear. He implants both brands.
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