While some have learned to cope with SSD (Kaybo, Jim, etc.) I found that I did not.
Before my surgery my hearing was diminished, but I had fairly good word recognition, so I only had a little "taste" of what being SSD would be like. I had asked my neurotologist about hearing options pretty much as soon as I was conscious post op and heard my hearing wasn't able to be saved. He mentioned the BAHA, but said I had plenty of time to think about it when I was healed. We talked about it long before that time, due to my frustrations.
After my AN surgery, when I was coping with lots of "bigger" issues - double vision, balance issues, fatigue, etc. - it seemed like SSD was just going to be an "annoyance".
However, I soon found at home that my children would speak to me and I had to keep asking them to repeat themselves. They soon grew frustrated, I soon grew frustrated; after repeating the same thing numerous times, they would just say "never mind". When I would take a nightly walk with one of them, which was my habit even before surgery, I would have to position him/her on my "good side" or I'd miss everything he/she had to say. I even took to physically putting my hand on my child's shoulder and moving him/her from my bad side to my good. In short, I was missing a lot.
Once I returned to work, I found that things weren't any better. Despite telling everyone upfront that I was SSD, they wouldn't remember. People would walk into my office and talk to me and I had no idea what they were saying. I felt like "WHAT?" was a major word in my vocabulary. I had to ask people to repeat themselves the majority of the time. In casual conversations with people I was often agreeing to stuff I didn't even know I was agreeing to. I also said "yes" and "right" a lot and the person I was talking to would give me a very strange look. It became obvious to me that I was giving incorrect responses
At meetings I would have to arrive early in order to sit in the place I would be able to hear everyone. Sometimes I wasn't able to procure that spot and would have my boss on my bad side whispering comments to me that I would just pretend to hear. I'd nod and smile.
Since my AN was in my left ear, I couldn't hear the teller at the drive-in at the bank or the person at the drive-thru without turning my whole body. I found myself explaining to complete strangers that I didn't know what they just said to me and why. "I'm deaf in my left ear."
When my head was healed "enough" I had the BAHA demo in my neurotologist's office and I was totally amazed. He had me plug my good ear with my finger and he talked to me. I actually heard every word he said - and clearly! It was like a light went on in my head. I couldn't wait for the implant surgery. That was in September.
Although I was told it would take about 4-6 weeks for my insurance company to approve my surgery and processor, it wasn't approved til the end of February. The day coverage was approved I was ecstatic. I realized at that point how depressed my SSD had been making me.
I had the surgery on March 4th 2008 and started wearing the processor exactly 90 days later. I have never been sorry; I am still ecstatic today.
The BAHA implant surgery is nothing like AN surgery. It takes about 90 minutes, but a lot of that is prep time (draping of your head, face, etc.) and it is done as an outpatient surgery. You generally get the choice of local or general anesthesia. I chose local, which not only cut down on the cost of the surgery, it made it much more pleasant (no ucky effects from coming out of the anesthesia). My site healed without any issues or infection and things have been great.
I do not experience tinnitus - didn't before or after my AN surgery either - so that is not a factor for me. However when I had my implant my doc had performed over 200 BAHA surgeries and told me only one person was not satisfied. I don't know how many of those 199 patients have tinnitus, but I have to believe that at least some of them do.
The BAHA is not for everyone. Obviously there are those who have adapted to SSD just fine. There are also those who don't want a titanium rod implanted into their skull. I understand this. But in my case the BAHA was definitely for me.
As others have said, and it's true, the BAHA isn't going to you back your "normal" hearing again, but IMO it's a vast improvement.
Give SSD a little time, and if you think it might not be for you, I strong recommend looking into the BAHA demo. It's a lot like the real thing - only the real thing is better. There is also the TransEar if you are looking for a more conventional hearing aid. Those who use the TransEar are very satisfied with the results.
Jan