Ponto 5 Mini: Thoughts from A User and Audiologist
AudiologyOnline: What prompted you to upgrade to the Ponto™ 5 Mini?
Sandi Arcus: As an audiology professional, I’m always curious about new technology and fascinated by small instruments making big improvements in sound quality.
AudiologyOnline: How do you feel about the new features in Ponto 5?
Sandi Arcus: With the OpenSound Navigator, I can hear speech better in a noisy restaurant, car, and wind. There is a noted improvement from the previous model. And with the OpenSound Optimizer, although I never had too much of a feedback issue before, now it’s even less. Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard any feedback! As for the RemoteCare options, this is a great tool for follow-up care. Very convenient, especially with patients’ ongoing concerns about leaving home during the pandemic.
AudiologyOnline: How is your experience hearing in noisy crowds/wind/other challenging environments?
Sandi Arcus: While the previous model already did a great job at this, I noted that there was less effort to hear speech in difficult listening situations, less frustration.
AudiologyOnline: Does the Ponto 5 support your active career/social life?
Sandi Arcus: Yes! It’s small yet powerful! I don’t feel like I’m missing anything, and people around me notice that as well.
AudiologyOnline: How does wearing it make you feel about yourself and the way you want others to see you?
Sandi Arcus: It makes me feel that I am doing the very best that I can do to hear the very best that I can hear. I feel more confident going into difficult listening situations. I’m less concerned and anxious that I will miss something.
AudiologyOnline: What do you want someone deciding whether to get Ponto 5 Mini to know that hasn’t already been covered?
Sandi Arcus: You don’t know what you are missing until you try it. It’s the little sounds that I thought I was hearing “well enough”. It became more apparent that I was not hearing them “well enough”. It enhanced the sounds around me enough to sound closer to “normal” and greatly reduced my listening effort.
Sandi Arcus, MS
Sandi Arcus is a Dispensing Audiologist at Lone Mountain Audiology in Las Vegas, NV. Born with single-sided deafness (SSD), she has always had a passion for helping others who are hard of hearing. She started her career in Pennsylvania as an audiologist in a busy ENT office, then in private practice. Sandi holds a Master of Science degree in Audiology from Bloomsburg University, is a Fellow with the American Academy of Audiology, and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competency from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.