A Guide for Making Informed Decisions for Bone Anchored Hearing Systems

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Selecting the hearing solution that’s right for you or your child requires research and understanding of the technology that makes each solution unique. While audiologists, ENTs and doctors can help guide you, it’s important to understand your options and advocate for what you want and need.

A Bone Anchored Hearing System (BAHS) is an amazing life improvement that brings new sound into your world. Whether you experience the feeling for yourself, or it’s for someone you love, choosing the right solution is important. The key is that you have a choice, and when you have a choice, it’s best to make an informed decision.

We want you to be armed with as much information as possible. With multiple BAHS options on the market, our community members have found different systems effective for their unique situations. One of these is the Ponto System from Oticon Medical.

Not only are there different products, there are different types of implants. For instance, a direct drive solution sends vibrations via a direct route to the bone. That’s different from a skin drive, which sends vibrations through the skin and then to the bone. Depending on your specific condition, certain solutions work better than others.

Ponto and Magnetic Device Sound Quality Research

Physical facts with skin drive solutions: These devices have lower output in the mid to high frequency region.

Again, we want to arm you with the information you need. Here’s a great guide from Oticon Medical about the different options. All you have to do is enter your email address, and you’ll get a free download of their Informed Decisions guide.

The guide covers:
The different types of bone conduction devices, and what each mean for you
What types of sounds you can hear at different frequencies
Solutions that are best for children

Click here to get the “Informed Decisions” guide from Oticon Medical.

*  This information is meant to be helpful and educational and is intended to help BAHS  users and  individuals considering becoming bone anchored users learn more about bone conduction hearing device technology and how these hearing devices work.  The more you learn will help you better understand your hearing loss and what options you have for aiding your hearing loss with a BAHS.  For more information about the Oticon Medical Ponto series of sound processors, please visit:  www.oticonmedical.com

Course #26259

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On Tuesday, October 13th, 2015, at 12 noon EDT, a live accredited online webinar will be offered to Audiologists and hearing device dispensers.  This course is FREE to the public and to any individuals or families who are interested in learning more about the Oticon Medical Ponto Plus BAHS (Bone Anchored Hearing System) and how two parents describe the decision process for helping make the decision to aid their children with the Ponto Plus hearing device.

*  CEUs/Hours Offered: ACAud/1.0; ASHA/0.1 Intermediate, Professional; BAA/1.0; CAA/1.0; IHS/1.0; Kansas DHE, LTS-S0035/1.0; NZAS/1.0; SAC/1.0
Under Review: AAA/0.1 Intermediate

Course Abstract
Melissa Tumblin and Ann Pipes are both mothers to children who use bone anchored hearing systems. Melissa’s daughter Alyssa (Ally) wears the Oticon Medical Ponto Plus on a softband. Ann’s son, Winslow, made his own decision to have surgery to wear his bilateral Ponto Pluses on abutments as implants. Join Melissa and Ann as they talk about how they’ve approached the decision making process around bone anchored hearing systems for their children.

Time-ordered Agenda

Liz Presson

Liz Presson
Digital Media & Community Experience
Liz Presson leads digital media and community strategy at Oticon Medical, the company pioneering hearing implant technology. Over the last two years, she’s built an online community and digital presence with a following of more than 10,000 passionate community members and advocates. She’s worked with the team at Oticon Medical to empower advocates who act as real-time content creators. Oticon Medical has received recognition for its digital media initiatives from one of the world’s most admired social media and technology influencers, Guy Kawasaki. Liz’s articles on digital media and technology have been published in Fast Company, Forbes, Mashable, Yahoo and others.

Melissa Tumblin

Melissa Tumblin
Founder and Executive Director of the Ear Community
Melissa Tumblin is mom to Alyssa “Ally” Tumblin, a child born with right sided Microtia and Aural Atresia.  She is the Founder and Executive Director of Ear Community, a nonprofit organization that promotes education and public awareness about microtia and atresia.  She is also the founder of the Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook.  She is a past board member for the Hands & Voices Organization and a past council member for the Parent Advocacy Family Council for Children’s Hospital Colorado (Bill Daniels Center for Children’s Hearing).  She has spoken at microtia and atresia surgical conferences and has presented at past EAA (Educational Audiology Association) conferences and for AudiologyOnline.  Melissa has 15 years of medical device marketing experience marketing electrosurgical devices and laparoscopic instruments.

Ann Pipes

Ann Pipes
Founding Board Member of Little Ears Hearing Center
Ann Pipes is mom to Winslow Pipes, a child with a bilateral severe to moderate loss due to Pierre Robin Sequence and Stickler Syndrome. She is a founding board member of Little Ears Hearing Center, a non-profit pediatric audiology clinic in Louisville, Kentucky. She has been trained as a parent advocate through the Family Information Network on Disabilities (FIND) and has also worked as a Guide by Your Side through the Kentucky chapter of Hands & Voices. She has spoken on parent panels for both Kentucky Hands & Voices as well as panels sharing parent perspectives and concerns with University of Louisville audiology students as part of their required course work.

Please click here to register for this course…
This course is sponsored by Oticon Medical and is being offered through AudiologyOnline.