Specific concerns:
There are three main brands. Two have on the ear and off the ear, AB only has on the ear. Depending on how long your hair is the on the ear are totally invisible in many cases. The off the ear are a small disc on your head. If you are bald they are clearly visible, otherwise not so much. I have on the ear N8 from Cochlear and love them. The service from Cochlear is fantastic; they have videos, classes, and if you have a query, pretty instant replies.

Before I got the CI I really was not able to function unless someone was looking directly at me and making an effort to speak clearly. I have a compatible hearing aid in the other ear and I can hear using it on its own, but it's so much better having both. And if I could only rescue one from a burning building it would be the CI!

Time between the surgery and activation seems to vary from about two weeks to five weeks. Occasionally longer, occasionally shorter. Mine was two weeks. And then you hear right away, but what do you hear is the question! The first week was lots of metallic chatter and little that made sense. A very few people hear words and sentences right away. People adjust at different rates depending, in part, on how much work you put into it, and in part on how long you had been deaf etc. After two weeks I could hear more than I could with the HAs at their best. After three months music is still hard, and really busy loud restaurants are hard, but again much better than with the HAs. And you can get a remote mic which also helps.

My feeling about natural solutions is - I'm 73 and I'm not going to hang around deaf, waiting for them to come up with something better.

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