Recently, Oticon Medical donated four Ponto Pro and Ponto Pro Power devices on a softband to a hearing humanitarian trip with Peak ENT and Utah State University. There’s nothing that could make our day more than hearing the stories of those who received the Bone Anchored Hearing Systems. We thought we’d share and hopefully bring some joy to your day too.
Joseph Dansie, AuD CCC-A/F-AAA, Peak ENT Associates-Audiologist, went on the mission to Central America to deliver and help fit the softbands. Below, Dr. Dansie recounts his experience with each child.
“I want to say thank you to Oticon Medical for their generous donations of the four softband Ponto Pro and Ponto Pro Power devices,” said Dr. Dansie. “We were able to fit all of the kids with bilateral Microtia/Atresia.”
Meet David
“David is a 1-year and 8 month old boy who has bilateral Microtia and Atresia. He has several other health complications and has a tracheostomy. We were able to get some good booth testing on him and it showed normal bone conduction thresholds using VRA. We programed the device. When I was putting the softband on his head he started to push my hands away, but as soon as I got it on him and he realized he could hear, he left it alone. When I went to take it off, to show his parents how to change the battery, he began to cry. When I put it back on, he stopped crying immediately. His father started to play some music on a phone, David grabbed the phone and held it up to his ponto and was so excited to hear.”
Meet Brandon
“The 5 year old boy name is named Brandon– he was so happy to be able to hear.”
Meet Nabomi
“Nabomi is also 5 years old, she was doing great. We did some aided testing with her Ponto device, and she was doing fantastic.”
Meet Pricilla
“Pricilla is 1 year and 2 months old. She previously had a body worn bone conduction device. When the mom saw the Ponto, she said ‘There’s no wire?!’ She was so happy to have her daughter hear, because she had been afraid to wear the body worn bone conduction device. She was worried that while she was not looking/watching her daughter, that the cord would accidentally get wrapped around her neck.”
All of these kids loved their Oticon Medical Ponto softband devices and didn’t pull them off or anything. We gave them each a 1-2 year supply or longer of batteries and we fit them in the office/clinic of an audiologist from Costa Rica who graduated with her AuD from Utah State University. She will provide the follow up adjustments at no cost and is a resource for them for batteries and continued care.
I personally want to say thank you to Oticon Medical and their donation of theses devices, you have truly made a significant difference in these children’s lives, their opportunity to develop spoken language has significantly improved and their quality of life has improved.