@hba1c5 I got the Med Elin 2018 which has now been updated. A friend who also has Med El, and I are not thrilled with their service so do what you can to check out what the service of the other ones is like. If you find out the details of what a company says about their service and let us know, then we would be in a better position to evaluate and also tell you some detailed questions to ask about service.

I have a cochlear implant. I received the Freedom implant from Cochlear Americas in 2005. It has made a miraculous change for me. I currently use the N6 processor and am now eligible to upgrade to the N7 processor. Cochlear Corp. has been very supportive. They were the first CI developer to include add on devices for their processors. I use the hand held mini mic 2+ often in social settings where background noise is present. I don't always need it, but it comes in handy when I do. I am 'bimodal', which means I use hearing aid technology too. My brain has wired itself to use both technologies well together. FYI, the ear I had the implant done on, was my poorer ear. That ear had not been aided for decades prior to the implant. However, I did spend a couple years prior to the implant using a headset to listen to audio tapes. I had been advised to do that with the goal of pulling that unaided ear out of the state of auditory deprivation. It must have helped because I have had remarkable success with the CI. And, they keep getting better and better. I hope this helps.

@hba1c5 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You are interested in cochlear implants. I moved your question, "Anyone Have A Cochlear Implant?" to an existing discussion about cochlear implants. I did this so you could connect with members like @lizzy102 @contentandwell that have discussed this topic in the past. I also encourage you to scroll back through the comments to find previously shared posts.

May I ask how long you have had hearing loss?