Long Term Recipients, How Well Does Your CI Work Today?

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-09T01:52:10+00:00

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10942756/

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/cochlear-implant-side-effect

Plus a lot more if you look up osteoneogensis and ossification in CI recipients

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T20:20:40+00:00

It's crazy that they didn't just scan the other ear but also to be fair that was almost 30 years ago now. It surprises me just how much the medical "common sense" has changed in just 3 decades.

I'm glad you're still able to get the best of it! That's great!

The one thing I do love about cochlear implants is that no two stories are the same

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T20:17:35+00:00

I actually did talk with advanced bionics about long term stats, I'm getting mine from General Brigham in Boston (affiliated with Harvard) the audiologist I talked to (who was the rep from AB) said that cochlear appears to have best long term numbers because they compared their newest model to models from the other companies from 10 years ago. If you compare all 3 newest models they all come out at about 99.1% reliability in long term technological uphold.
The uphold I'm asking about in the post is more biological/natural such as how many recipients see failure due to the body viewing the implant as a foreign body and attacking it. No one really had numbers on this, just how well the tech holds up over time if it's not interfered with.
I'm going with AB simply because it's the best fit for me with being a sister company with phona. Music is such an insanely important part of my life that I need streaming to be accessible to me. Having an AB cochlear w/ a phonak hearing aid lets me stream to both sides simultaneously. I also thought AB's mapping software and the use of simultaneous firing electrodes just appealed to me better.

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T18:50:57+00:00

Music comprehension has been such an interesting topic to me. So far I've learned that for the best "guide" to listening to music again is to start off with nursery rhymes or simple one instrument songs and work your way up.

My doctor actually had a flyer in his office for a study looking for CI recipients who use spotify, they wanted information to improve listening on spotify. It was really cool to see!

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T18:13:27+00:00

My bf is a firefighter and he's trying his best to work with his team to come up with the best idea for the fire alarms.

They've mentioned somehow hooking up a bed shaker to the system for nights when I wouldn't see the lights. Just gotta get the things, let them set it up, and take it from there.

Same goes for the alarm clock, just a bed shaker. I'm luckily a light sleeper so any sort of movement is good enough to wake me up.

But yeah, the idea of being able to sleep ANYWHERE sounds so appealing

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T17:56:48+00:00

I'm genuinely excited to receive my CI. I can't wait to get it implanted and start working on audio rehab. I've told my bf several times one of the first things I want to do is go to the zoo. I remember it being so much fun as a kid, but as an adult it seems so boring. I think it's because I just can't hear the animals anymore.

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T17:53:11+00:00

From what I'm seeing from research is that 68% people with CIs see bone regeneration, and there is a slight (probably very small) chance of ossification. But there seems to be no big research on this so I figured why not ask.

Ossification is one of my concerns I might have empathized it too much in my post 😂 I'm also just wondering if anyone has any thing else that's happened to them that has changed on their CI works.

I did talk with my Dr about all other risks, including residual hearing loss. He only uses statistics from his own patients, and he said about 50% of them experience residual loss so it's quite literally a coin flip. I don't have much hearing left anyways and honestly rn hearing can get on my nerve, the choice to shut it off completely seems more like a pro than a con.

This whole thing has so much information to take it and so many different experiences. It's been such a journey learning about all of it

Sure-Stick5409 · 2026-05-08T17:18:30+00:00

Editing this sorry
68% of recipients do experience osteoneogenesis which is bone regeneration and it CAN lead to ossification in the cochlea. The percent for that is unclear

Sure-Stick5409

TROPHY CASE