Part 2 of 2
As we shared in Part 1 of Nancy Smith Oberman’s upgrade story, she had her concerns about moving to a bilateral Ponto 4 bone anchored hearing system from her Ponto 3 SuperPowers. The following post traces her journey from deciding to upgrade through her life with Ponto 4, which she originally shared via a series of Facebook posts.*
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Decision made – Nancy chooses Ponto 4
I authorized my audiologist to order my right, steel-gray Ponto 4, and will order the left in January. I’m still absolutely amazed by how well the Ponto 4s work for me. I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to trial them in just about every situation I experience on a daily basis. I was not very positive they would work for me, but as I tell people all the time — louder does not equal good hearing.
I think the thing I’m most impressed with is the fact that I can hear behind me, at least when someone is speaking to me. I don’t necessarily have to face the speaker, which has been a blessing. I’m also quite surprised I don’t get feedback, because I’m pretty sure they are set at the ceiling. Sometimes I will turn them up a tad — my left cochlea is not as good as the right, which is why I’ve always boosted the Pontos with a traditional hearing aid, which gives me the needed extra amplification on the left.
I love that I can control my settings with my Apple® watch! With Ponto 4, I’m experiencing sound that seems even more natural and with less vibration, if that makes sense.
I’m just as happy as I can be… as are my staff! I find that only I can hear what I’m listening to now and so am enjoying taking my phone calls via Bluetooth® anywhere. Who would have thought?
Follow-up after getting Ponto 4 confirms better hearing
Just left my audiologist’s office to pick up one new Ponto (second will be procured in January). As I’m getting ready this morning, he shoots me an email reminding me to bring my SuperPowers to the appointment. He wants to test me with both, to compare. Actually, I was looking forward to doing just that; cannot deny I’ve had a twinge or two over the last month, thinking I may very well have convinced myself the Ponto 4 was better because it was newer and had that direct connect Bluetooth.
We go into the sound booth and start with the Ponto 4s. After the tone thing, he does the speech recognition, where I have to repeat sentences that are spoken with increasing background noise and voices. I thought I did okay, so great! Next, we move to the SuperPowers. No change in program; exactly what I’d used for the last two-and-a-half years. What did I think? Yep, the SuperPowers were going to work better than the 4s, which were much quieter… sigh.
When we finished, my audiologist was grinning. “Well,” I asked, “was I wrong in thinking I heard better with the 4s… kinda bummed?”
“Nope,” he said. “You actually understood speech better with the 4s!” With 1-3 being normal speech recognition (1 being better than 3), I hit at 1.6 with the Ponto 4s. With the Ponto3 SuperPowers, I hit at 2.8. Yay, I was correct — I really do hear better with the 4s!
Advice to Ponto wearers considering an upgrade
My advice to others considering whether to upgrade to a Ponto 4 from their SuperPower device is that you have got to give a trial more than five minutes, or even five hours or an entire day! I sat in a noisy restaurant with friends the other day and didn’t miss any of the conversation even with all the clanking of dishes, crying children, other conversations, etc. While you might not experience a big “a-ha” moment of noticeable hearing improvement, don’t be discouraged. The changes are so subtle (which I think is awesome, actually) that it may take your brain a day or two to catch up to the marked improvement. This is as close to normal hearing as I can remember all those years ago, before the onset of my hearing loss.
I think Oticon Medical has hit this out of the park!
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*NOTE: Originally shared via a series of Facebook posts with permission.
I’m scheduled to get bilateral Ponto 4s programmed for trial Wednesday. In the meantime, I love teaching people! I’m working with the company that set up our phone system to come up with a solution to resolve my difficulty with phone usage. I had quite the conversation explaining the bone anchored hearing system and the Bluetooth® direct connection capabilities of the new Ponto 4. The person I spoke to was fascinated, to say the least! I consider it a win-win: I’ve educated more people about hearing loss and the technology to aid those of us who have it, plus I resolved my phone issue.
The Ponto 4s are so small and lightweight that it feels as if they aren’t even attached. I do miss the ability to mute from the processor itself but using the Oticon ON™ app is no different than using the app with my hearing aid. The direct Bluetooth is absolutely wonderful, except I can only use it in private. As with the streamer, everyone else around me can hear sounds traveling through the processors. At least my coworkers are used to me being in my office with my door closed.