Top 10 Reasons to Choose AB

Selecting the right cochlear implant system for you or your child is a life-changing decision. For something as significant as your ability to hear, you want the best in quality and performance. Advanced Bionics offers the industry’s most technologically advanced, best performing cochlear implant systems to help you enjoy the vibrant world of sound.1-5


These top 10 reasons show why choosing AB is the right choice for the ability to hear more of your world and live life to the fullest.

1. more top technologies
AB delivers the best performance by offering the industry’s most advanced technology to bring you five times more resolution than any other cochlear implant system. Independent studies prove that AB recipients hear better in real-world situations than recipients with other cochlear implant systems.1,2 Now, for the first time in history, recipients have access to the combined dynamic technologies from AB and Phonak, the innovation leaders in cochlear implants and hearing instruments. Hear your best everywhere, every time with AB.


2. more trusted total system reliability
AB is number one in “Total System Reliability”— the reliability of both the internal and external components.6 Made to last, the HiRes 90K™ Advantage implant features mechanical improvements on the HiRes 90K implant that leads the industry with a 99.8% one-year cumulative survival rate (CSR),3 a measure that defines the likelihood of a device continuing to function over time. AB’s Harmony™ processor has the lowest average three-month failure rate of less than 1%.3 We make reliability our first priority, ensuring that you can count on AB to keep you hearing your best day after day.

3. more innovations for hearing in noise
Only AB offers ClearVoice™*, the industry’s only sound processing technology that has been clinically proven to deliver superior hearing performance in noise. Now delivering Phonak Binaural VoiceStream Technology™, AB provides more innovations for optimized hearing in noisy settings than any other cochlear implant manufacturer.

*Not approved for pediatric use in the United States.

4. more swimmable technology than ever
Hearing in and around water is crucial for socialization, language development, and safety. Only AB offers Neptune™, the world’s first and only waterproof, swimmable sound processor. Designated for use in and out of pools, baths, oceans, lakes, and rivers, Neptune has been developed to help you or your child swim like a fish and hear like a dream.


5. more options for wireless connectivity
AB is the only cochlear implant manufacturer to offer access to the ComPilot, AB myPilot, TVLink and RemoteMic for the ultimate in wireless connectivity. Advanced features and functionality link you seamlessly to Bluetooth devices, mobile phones, computers, media players, TVs, navigation systems, FM, and countless other devices. Choosing AB keeps you connected to the media that entertains you, the music that moves you, and the people who love you.

6. more innovations for music enjoyment
AB provides the most innovations for optimal music appreciation and enjoyment. AB’s HiRes Fidelity 120™* sound processing is the only strategy that can implement simultaneous current steering to deliver the dimensions of music (loudness, pitch, timing) for a full listening experience. The naturally placed T-Mic™ microphone makes it effortless to use your MP3 player. AB also developed ClearVoice™* to help you understand the lyrics of your favorite songs.

*Not approved for pediatric use in the United States.

7. more advancements for bimodal and bilateral hearing
Another industry first has arrived from AB, changing the way you hear. Now music, phone calls, TV shows, FM, and endless other media can be wirelessly streamed to both a hearing aid and sound processor or two sound processors at the same time. Combining patented technologies to deliver innovations that improve lives, AB and Phonak are the clear market leaders in bimodal and bilateral hearing.

8. more headroom for future upgradeability
When you choose AB, you benefit from superior internal technology now, with headroom for full external upgradeability so that your hearing advances as the technology does—without the need for additional surgery. AB cochlear implants offer unmatched programming flexibility, nearly unlimited ways to deliver sound, and capacity for technologies not yet invented. You can count on AB to develop leading innovations that improve your quality of life.

9. more flexible wearing for lifestyles
AB offers the industry’s only lifestyle™ line of flexible wearing styles. With the introduction of Naída CI Q70 (Naída CI), the market’s first featherlite, instyle™ design has arrived. Slim and trim, Naída CI sound processors are incredibly lightweight for barely noticeable on and off-ear wearing. For those who prefer to never wear anything on the ear, the swimmable Neptune™ processor features the only freestyle™ design, giving you the freedom to choose your wearing style—in your hair, on your arm, under your collar, in your pocket—without compromising performance.

10. more comfort and convenience
The patented T-Mic™ microphone is the only microphone placed naturally at the opening of the ear for highly focused hearing, allowing you to use headphones, cell phones, and other devices just like everyone else. The all-new T-Mic™ 2 provides enhanced aesthetics, comfort, and durability. The AB myPilot remote control provides one-touch setting changes, status information, listening checks, and access to the ZoomControl feature for focusing on the speaker to your right or left.

The Microphone

1. Cochlear Implant Hearing Begins with the Microphone
2. Location is key
3. Three Strategic Mic Locations
4. Natural Placement for More Natural Hearing
5. Study Reveals Recipients Hear Better with T-Mic

The Sound Processor

1. Hear Your Best with AB Sound Processrs
2. How does a Sound Processor Work?
3. The World of Sound in Detail
4. Hear Well in Real-World Settings

The Headpiece

1.  Hearing with a Headpiece
2.  How Hearing Works with a Headpiece
3.  Designed for Durability
4.  Comfort & Style

The Implant

The Miracle of Hearing Restoration with Cochlear Implants
A cochlear implant is an electronic device that allows many people who’ve experienced hearing loss to hear their best. For many who’ve never heard before, they experience hearing for the very first time. It’s different than a hearing aid, which amplifies incoming sound to make it loud enough for an impaired ear to hear.

Using state-of-the-art technology, a cochlear implant bypasses the damaged part of an ear and sends electrical signals directly to the brain via the hearing nerve. Cochlear implants are currently the only medical technology able to functionally restore one of the five senses, which is why many physicians refer to cochlear implants as “technological miracles.”


How does a Cochlear Implant Work?
A cochlear implant consists of two main components. The external component, the sound processor, which can be worn on the outer ear or discreetly on the body, and the internal component, the implant, which delivers sound to the hearing nerve.

The implant’s function is to receive the transmitted digital information from the headpiece and convert that information into electrical signals that travel down the electrode array, which is inserted into the inner ear, or cochlea. The array’s electrodes directly stimulate the auditory nerve, which sends impulses to the brain, where they’re interpreted as sound.


Experience the Ultimate Implant Performance
The HiRes 90KTM implant features the most advanced sound processing circuitry in the world. Its sophisticated design provides unsurpassed programming flexibility, nearly unlimited ways to deliver sound, the industry’s highest case impact resistance, and full upgradeability for access to tomorrow’s innovations without surgery.1 Choosing AB allows you or your child to benefit from tomorrow’s technology with today’s implant.


It’s What’s Inside that Counts
The size and outward appearance of your cochlear implant system won’t help you or your child hear any better. To hear your best, you need what’s best on the inside. When you choose a cochlear implant system from AB, you benefit from a superior internal technology now and external upgradeability for the future so that your hearing advances as the technology does—without the need for surgery. You can count on new innovations from AB to improve your quality of life.


Reliability You Can Count On
Made to last, AB cochlear implants implanted today demonstrate excellent reliablity with a 99.8% one-year cumulative survival rate (CSR),2 a measure that defines the likelihood of a device continuing to function over time. That remarkable number reflects manufacturing changes implemented by the Quality Assurance system in 2005, which made the HiRes 90K implant significantly more reliable over time than previous devices. You can rest assured that an AB cochlear implant will continue to work so that you may always hear your best.