My hearing loss isn't quite total but it is pretty bad. Without the device, if I plug my good ear, I can't carry on a conversation with someone even in a quiet office. I snapped the Ponto onto the abutment (end of the screw) and it worked! I plugged my good ear again and could talk with the Audi very easily just using the device.
The key part is that it works well. The Ponto isn't a "night and day" difference for me like it is for someone that has lived without any hearing at all. At times, it seems like it is hard to notice - it just works.
The Audi programmed it for my hearing loss. In about an hour she showed me the operation of the device and fine tuned the programming. We also went over a long list of questions and she patiently went through everything.
The next day I had student meetings and class. It was a real joy to not need to pick a particular seating arrangement or be constantly turning my head to point my good ear at the speaker. I could tell a big difference in the ability to hear what was happening. The class was filled with student presentations and again, it was just nice to be able to hear them clearly.
Thursday and Friday were a short little family vacation to the Oregon Coast. We stayed with another family in a rented house on Promenade at Seaside, Oregon just 100 feet from the ocean. Coincidentally the mother of the family that we stayed with also has single sided deafness. She lost her hearing due to an ear infection.
Oticon provides new Ponto recipients with a rod that can be used for people to try the device without surgery. She tried my Ponto and was surprised with how well it worked for her.
On the other hand, her father-in-law tried it and didn't find it helpful. He has more traditional age related hearing loss so there isn't a health cochlea to receive the "good vibrations" (with all due respect to the Beach Boys!)
The osseointegration (bonding of bone to the Titanium screw) seems to have gone very well - it felt solid after just four weeks. The healing of the skin around the screw hasn't been quite as smooth. It still has some periodic redness and an occasional spot of blood. No sign of infection and it doesn't hurt. I hope it clears up before my next followup with the surgeon and the audiologist in four more weeks.
In summary, I'm quite satisfied with the result. If I had everything to do over, I would still do it - the only question is whether I would have spent a year trying to get insurance approval for the cochlear implant option.
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