I was in your position four years ago when I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go the speech or audiology route. I am currently a third year audiology student and have had hands-on experience in two different medical settings (in 2 different states). Here are some things that I didn't know about CIs going into audiology that may or may not help you with your decision.
The first site I was at is in a state that has many speech schools. Therefore, most younger children saw an audiologist and SLP at their school and not in a hospital setting so I worked with a lot of the older children who were no longer receiving speech services.
It is true that you will not see the patient as much as an SLP will. However, you do form a close bond with the family because you are the one counseling and guiding the family through the CI process. You will see them ALOT when they are first activated. At the other site that I was at we saw the patient two days in a row on initial activation, then once a week for a month, then every 3 months until the audiologist was comfortable putting them on a 6 month or 1 year schedule (that depends mainly on if they are bilateral v. unilateral). You also get to see them when equipment breaks, malfunctions, or there are other problems.
The SLPs on both CI teams that I have worked with see the patients a lot more. Especially if they are children. Adults are often given listening strategies to work on (which an audiologist can do) but then quickly discharged. An SLP that wants to work with CI kids usually gets their auditory verbal certification and also learns how to teach families/children total communication. Some SLPs on the team at one site sign. If you take the SLP route and want to work exclusively with CI kids then I would recommend getting your certification in Auditory verbal therapy as well as learning how to provide therapy with TC and signing kids. In most states this seems like a high need.
The way I made my decision is I thought about if I would enjoy the more medical side or therapy side when it came to hearing loss. Also, as much as I LOVE children I realized that there were some kids that I did not want to see biweekly for an hour at a time doing therapy for who knows how long
Although SLP is only a two year graduate program, you also have a CFY year and then additional certification, which again I think is important with CI kids, before you are highly qualified to work with CI patients. Therefore, it will probably take you just as long to get the certification you need to be highly specialized compared to getting your Au.D. I also know some CI programs where the audiologist does the listening therapy while the SLP does the language therapy. It really depends on where you end up working.
Sorry for the long post, but one more thing... it is harder to get hands on experience with CIs but definitely not impossible! I received hands-on experience in both my 2nd and 3rd years of school. Now this was on the established and "easier" patients. The fourth-year student at one of the sites I was at has enough experience to do initial activation even on the little guys.
Hope this helps a little. I do not think you could make a wrong decision. I am very happy with my decision with audiology and love CIs but also love that I can do other things (diagnostics, hearing aids...) that helps the hearing impaired population! I have loads more information but I won't bore you with it. If you have any questions let me know. I am not an expert by any means these are just some things I have experienced with my limited exposure to CIs.
Oh and you know you want to be an audiologist
