This part of the device is implanted.

The decision was mine and I put it off as long as I could.  Three manufacturers make cochlear implant devices and neither my doctor nor my audiologist nor Google would tell me which of the three to choose.  The only person who will tell you without hesitation which brand to choose is one who actually wears the implant.  And they all recommend the same manufacturer.

The one implanted in their head.

My method for making this decision was to:

• Query every resource my audiologist provided
• scour online websites and blogs like the one I am now writing
• ask my husband for help (he’s good at this sort of thing)

On decision day, my husband and I reviewed all of the data: manufacturer’s materials, emails, and notes (not mine, the cogent notes he took during demo sessions, thank goodness) and developed a list of attributes.  We scored the devices for each attribute on the list and then weighted the attributes most important to me.  I am pleased to announce that our method generated a clear winner.

(It is not the purpose of this blog to promote anything other than the author’s experience but in the interest of sharing details that will be important to some, I’ll divulge the fact that I chose Med El.)