11Manufacturer systems compared

The physiology is universal; the vocabulary is not. The same electrically-evoked compound action potential is called NRT by one manufacturer, ART by another, and NRI by a third — and the levels, defaults, and software differ in ways that trip up anyone who works across brands or reads the literature. This module is the translation table: what each system calls each measure, where they genuinely differ, and what to watch when you move between them.

FWhy terminology matters

A clinician who learned objective measures on one device, or who reads a paper from a centre using another, constantly meets the same biological signal under different names and different units. Confusing the brand-specific labels is a real source of error — in level setting, in interpreting reports, and in comparing studies. The underlying measures (ECAP, ESRT, eABR, impedance) are the same across all three major manufacturers; only the packaging differs.[2013]

TECAP system names

All three record the same N1–P2 neural response; each brands the feature and the threshold differently.

Cochlear's AutoNRT is the most familiar fully-automated threshold-seeking implementation, built on forward-masking subtraction and an automated detection algorithm.[2007, 1999] The other systems offer their own automated and manual modes. The artifact-rejection defaults differ (see Module 3), which is one reason absolute threshold values are not directly interchangeable between brands.

TLevel terminology

The upper comfortable level — the same clinical concept — carries different names and is measured in different current units across systems, so never port a numeric level from one device to another.

TClinical software & automation

Each manufacturer ships its own fitting software, within which the objective measures live:

• Cochlear — Custom Sound, with AutoNRT integrated for automated ECAP thresholds.
• MED-EL — MAESTRO, with ART for ECAP recording.
• Advanced Bionics — historically SoundWave and successor software, with NRI.

All provide impedance telemetry and integrity checks; the depth of automated ECAP analysis, the availability of advanced measures (recovery, spread of excitation, transimpedance matrix) and their presentation differ between platforms and software versions.

CPractical cross-brand notes

• Read the brand, then the value. Always note which system produced a report before interpreting a threshold or level.
• Compare like with like in the literature. Studies using different artifact-rejection defaults can report systematically different ECAP thresholds; this is a confounder when pooling data.
• The clinical logic is portable; the numbers are not. Use tNRT/tART/tNRI for profile shape and as an in-range anchor, and the ESRT for the ceiling — the same strategy (Module 9) on every brand, with brand-specific values.