New BAHA user with some observations

[Girldad]

I have had my BAHA activated for a month now and wanted to post my experiences with it. Overall I am really happy with it and am glad that I had it done at the same time as surgery. I have one program on it that I use for everything. My audiologists says that they don’t like to do multiple programs for different environments and instead focus on one program that will work for everything. When I am in an indoor environment with small spaces and only a few people, it works perfectly. I can hear people on my bad side very clearly. The sound is a little different though. It has taken me a little while to get used to it and to kind of know how to listen for it (if that makes any sense to anybody).

The outdoor environments are a little different. I work outside every day and am around a lot of machinery. To begin with, the wind noise that it was picking up was bothering me, but I have adapted to that over the last month.  I find myself muting it a lot when I am around machinery or riding in a noisy cab. I also do not think I am picking up speech as well in large outdoor environments where there are a lot of people and sounds. However, this might be getting better the more I have used it.

The tech in this thing is probably my favorite part about it. I love taking my phone calls with it and streaming things to it. Sometimes it is not loud enough so I wear an ear plug in my good ear to make the sound coming from the BAHA louder.  (Or just block out competing noises). How it sends that sound directly to my inner ear is crazy to me. I also have a tv adapter with it that I absolutely love. I can adjust my volume and my wife can adjust hers.

Overall, I am really happy with it, but it has taken some time to adjust to certain environments. I just wanted to give a short review and recap of my experiences so far. Thanks for reading.

[alabamajane]

Hi,
I’ve had a BAHA since 2014. However, I just upgraded to the new “6” and it is SO much better!! The sound is definitely clearer. Not as much static as my previous 5 Power unit which I had been using for the last 5 years.

I go tomorrow to my audiologist for fitting and adjustments. Not sure if I will get more than one program on it or not.
I agree that sometimes I close off my good ear to just listen through the BAHA!  . I never used to do that. But at times it helps to hear exactly what you are wanting to listen to without surrounding noise Interference  ,, if that makes sense.

My TV streamer was my free gift from Cochlear! And I too LOVE IT!! Yesterday I muted the tv and used my streamer to watch tv without disturbing my husband who was at the table doing computer work!!

I already have the remote control unit. I use it to control the tv streamer. I’ve had it awhile but never used it previously. i also have the mini mic and phone clip,,,, ( don’t need the phone clip anymore). I have the app for Cochlear on my phone but will have audiologist help me program it tomorrow. 

Overall,, I’m much happier with the BAHA since I’ve received this upgrade. Definitely worth pursuing if anyone has an older unit!
I hope you enjoy yours as well.
It’s definitely a big help if you are SSD. Still doesn’t help with locating direction that the sound is coming from,, but nothing can help with that,,,
Good luck with adjusting to it. Just wear it all the time,, and your brain will adjust,,
Jane

[Girldad]

I agree that sometimes I close off my good ear to just listen through the BAHA!  . I never used to do that. But at times it helps to hear exactly what you are wanting to listen to without surrounding noise Interference  ,, if that makes sense.

This makes perfect sense and was what I was trying to describe, but didn't know exactly how to.  It is still crazy to me how this works.  I would be interested to know if you end up with more than one program after your fitting alabamajane.

I should have mentioned that I have an Oticon ponto 5 mini.  I went back and forth on what brand of BAHA to go with and decided on the Oticon, just because my surgeon liked the abutment hardware better for some reason.  It is my understanding that Cochlear has now bought out Oticon so that they are essentially the same company now.  I am not sure whether that is good or bad for us BAHA users.

It’s definitely a big help if you are SSD. Still doesn’t help with locating direction that the sound is coming from,, but nothing can help with that,,,
Good luck with adjusting to it. Just wear it all the time,, and your brain will adjust,,

I would definitely agree with this.  I still struggle to locate sound and probably always will.  I have worn my BAHA almost every hour of every day since it was activated.  I can definitely tell how much it is helping me, just from the few times that I have not been wearing it. 

[donjehle]

Thank you, both, for sharing your experiences with your BAHA.  That is really helpful for people who might be considering one.

I have a good friend who chose to do the BAHA, and he swears it was the best thing he ever did.  He said it took him a while to "learn" how to listen, but now it is great.

I did not know that Cochlear bought out Oticon.  That's quite interesting.

Anyway, thank you for sharing this on the forums!