I have been a bone anchored hearing aid user for 9 years. As I explained in this blog, https://luckybraintumor.com/2024/12/26/the-upgrade-process-for-my-bone-anchored-hearing-aid/, I delayed my upgrade. I went from an Oticon Ponto Power Plus to the Ponto 5 Superpower. I believe I skipped 2 generations that were in between. I was really excited for my upgrade, and there have been a few surprises with the Ponto 5 Superpower.

I first want to take a moment and say that I have always been steered toward Oticon over Cochlear by my audiologists. Both at the time of getting my first device and when getting my upgrade, Cochlear did not have a power version of a bone anchored hearing aid. When I got my first device, my audiologist was adamant that since I have no hearing function on my left and need the sound routed all the way to my right ear, I needed a power version to make sure that the sound was loud enough I could recieve it well on the right. My new audiologist at my upgrade appointment said that technically, my hearing fell in the range for either the power or mini version, but she leaned toward the power version still to make sure the sound was loud enough. I have also heard a lot of complaints regarding feedback noise with Cochlear, and I have to say that Oticon’s feedback suppression is phenomenal, especially in the Ponto 5. Lastly, I have only great things to say about Oticon’s customer service.

As I mentioned, one of the best changes with the Oticon Ponto 5 Superpower has been improved feedback suppression. With my old Ponto, when something like wind or my hair rubbing would cause that feedback swish sound, it would last for a few seconds and then the device would realize it was feedback and remove the sound. Now, it is often almost or actually instantaneous that the feedback sound is suppressed. I love it so much! Oticon advertises the feedback suppression is so good you can wear a hat with it. I haven’t yet succeeded at wearing a winter beanie without feedback, but it does seem like it may be possible for a light weight beach hat.

I also feel like the sound quality is crisper with my new device. It sounds a little clearer and perhaps a little less robotic than the old Ponto Plus Power. When I was in the audiologist office getting my new Ponto 5 Superpower programmed and the audiologist turned it on live for the first time, I heard the lights in the room humming and I had not been hearing that before the hearing aid was on. It was a pretty powerful demonstration of how it improves my hearing.

The physical design changed a bit since my old Ponto, and I like the upgrades there also. The device itself has gotten smaller, which is nice. Though no one ever saw my old device through my hair anyway. They also changed the buttons. Previously, there were two, a big button for on/off and changing the programs, and a roll wheel for volume. I found I frequently accidentally moved the volume roll wheel as it was on the side of the device. Now, there is just one button on the top, which I find a lot less likely to be accidentally hit.

Oticon also updated the app to interface the hearing device with my phone. It gives a lot more control. I love that I essentially have a sound mix bar that I can play around with to try and get the listening experience optimized. There are also more listening program options to change the settings based on the situation: speech in noise, comfort, and music. I haven’t tried music yet, but I am looking forward to trying it. I have tried speech in noise. It seems to help a little, but it doesn’t make a gigantic difference in my experience. The app also provides some ability to locate your hearing aid and a battery life indicator.

When I got my old Oticon Ponto Plus Power, it came with a streamer. This streamer was a small device I wore with a cord around my neck and it connected my phone to my hearing aid for streaming, allowed me to control the hearing aid settings, and also had a telecoil to connect my hearing aid to hearing loops (which are essentially a method to send auditorium sound systems directly to hearing aids). All of this was in one device.

When I went for my upgrade, I was told there were a few different accessories, and I could select one of the accessories to come included with the hearing aid. I wanted to make sure I had a telecoil as I often use it at places like theatres. The audiologist and I called Oticon, and they told me to pick the edumic for my accessory as it had the only telecoil. So I did. I was excited because the edumic also is a remote microphone that a conversational partner or class presenter could wear so I could hear the individual person better. 

However, when I received my Ponto 5 Superpower and tried to stream my phone to my hearing aid, I found I could not do it. I had been told the new hearing aid had Bluetooth, and you could stream directly from your phone. It turned out you can only stream directly from your phone if your phone is Apple, and I am an Android user. The edumic could only stream my phone if it was plugged in via a cord and headphone jack, which would also take a usb-c to headphone jack converter as my phone has no headphone jack. If I wanted to stream my phone without cords, I needed a connectclip accessory. This is also a remote microphone as well as a phone streamer device. I was very disappointed as this had not been properly explained to me when I contacted Oticon to choose my accessory. Oticon decided to mail me a connectclip for free to make up for the confusion, which was very kind and saved me spending $200 to stream my phone.

I do find it disappointing that I now need 2 different accessory devices to accomplish what I could do with one device with my older Ponto, streaming my phone and using hearing loops. I hope Oticon makes it possible to stream Android devices soon.

I did test out the edumic and the connectclip. I find the edumic to work significantly better as a remote microphone. It is louder, crisper, and less fussy about perfect positioning. With both the connectclip and the edumic, I found that having my conversational partner wear the mic on a lanyard helped it pick up sound better than clipping it on their clothes. It laid more nicely and was consistently at the right location compared to just clipping it on. The remote microphones did help some in background noise. I liked that I could turn down how much my hearing aid was picking up sound from the environment and turn up the microphone. I think it would work best if I wore an earplug in my hearing ear to help block out more of the ambient noise. In a situation like a crowded restaurant, I found I preferred my Airpods Pro 2 on hearing aid mode over the remote microphone because their background noise canceling is so superb. The remote mic helped some with clarity, but the Airpods helped my ears not be overstimulated by the bombardment of sound.

All in all, I am very happy with my Oticon Ponto 5 Superpower. It greatly improves my day to day quality of life. It reduces my listening effort and fatigue. It is extremely comfortable. I snap it on and go about my day, never needing to think about it. It helps me pick up sound on my deaf side as well as reduces my struggles in background noise significantly. It has several nice improvements over my old Ponto Plus Power.