3D imaging for the perfect fit hearing aids

Hearing Aids
#8

^^^ I can relate to a few of your issues with BTE aids. The newer models are better with moisture (I get a pretty slathering workout at the gym, but live in a very dry climate), but also manage to hook the ear wires on these dang aids with my fingers, comb, etc., and send them flying. For a while I used the leash … but that has its own comfort issues.

As for wearing helmets and even hats (also glasses that perch on top of the mic) … yup. More issues to live with.

I’d consider the ITE aids if they were made with more flexible, giving material.

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#9

I don’t have the issues you have with my ear canals, I guess I am lucky. I do expect to have a little soreness for a few days getting use to the new ITE aids, but it has always gone away within a week to 10 days.

#10

From what I understand, early imaging machines were pretty crummy. New ones are supposed to be better and I badly want one. But they are expensive.

There are a number of different options for soft molds for BTEs and RICs. No soft ITEs. You can put a rubbery soft coat onto an ITE, but it’s thin and is more for feedback than for comfort. I’m not sure a soft mold would overcome your ear swelling issue, though, if it swells so much that you can’t get whatever you use regularly into the ear. The soft molds are giving, but not spongy, and can often be MORE difficult to get into the ear because of increased friction. You’d almost need a morning mold and an evening mold.

#11

LOL!!! Exactly! In fact, even with the double domes, I keep two sizes on hand: S/M and L. Luckily, these domes are not hard to pull off and change with a dome of a different size. I sometimes wear the S/M dome on my LEFT receiver for a couple days, then switch back to the size L when I start to get too much feedback.

Imagine if my NOSE swelled and recessed as much as my ear canals? Well, that would be a sight. :roll_eyes:

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#12

Though, if you were doing a full mold in a soft material, you could probably manage quite a narrow canal and that would work all day. I don’t imagine that your pinna swells much? Just the canal?

#13

Correct! Altho my outer ear is pretty stable, once you get to the ear canal DOORWAY (does that have a name?) it swells up and down throughout the day. It’s not like I’m a sodium addict, but that is just an area of swelling that’s come on with aging.

I get what you mean about the friction element of a softer layer applied to a hard plastic mold. Hmmmm. What we need here is a SHOE horn for the EAR canal. Yes, a little spoon-shaped device to literally ease that hard mold into the ear.

(If it weren’t so ridiculous, I’d add that little shoe horn to my Dream Features list - one sold with every HA purchased.)

#14

Hehe. Or some sort of blow-up earmold like a car air bag, where you insert and and then–poof!–it just magically and comfortably fills to exactly fit your canal.

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#15

Not me - I wear open domes. Not sure who that was either.

#16

I remember the comment distinctly, but I did a forum search for “gummy mold” and I couldn’t find anything. Can’t remember who that was.

#17

External auditory meatus.

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#18

My 11yr old Son has bilateral hearing aids (Phonak Sky Q50) and just was fitted with new molds. His old mold took up the canal and 3/4 of the outer ear. His new molds are just in the canal.
They utilized that pink foam goop that he had to keep in his ears. (He hated that)

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#19

I had that done for the new in the ear aids I will be getting tomorrow

#20

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@BlueCrab I had silicon molds made a few months ago, they were the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever worn. They weren’t a good fit, and kept working there way out of the canal every time I moved my jaw. I tried to get used to them but in the end I went ba k to the hard mini molds that are just so comfy.
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#21

I was doing a little research on the topic today, and it appeared to me that they are not very popular. Some people love them, but most people seem to give up on them.

Mine are hard plastic and I’m usually not even aware of them. The down side is that over three years I’ve broken the left one twice. I think I’m a little over-aggressive when cleaning them, and my left canal has an odd shape.

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#22

@BlueCrab because mine are mini molds I need to have the tubing glued into the mold. Or I’m forever at the GP getting him to dig the mold out of my canal as it sits deep in the canal. To clean them I take tube off the aid and into soapy water every week and I’m also aggressive. Lol.

#23

I LOVE that! “EAM” for short. But somehow “meatus” sounds more beefy.

#24

Ah! That is just a BUMMER about the softer silicone molds. As you’ve noticed, they slip backwards out of the ear with moisture. I have the same problem with my double domes.

Oh, I could press them in good and hard, then say NOTHING, eat NADA, in short freeze my jaw, mouth, lower face for the next 14 hrs and maybe the domes would stay put.

I have currently resorted to taping the wires right smack against my ear to hold the receivers IN the canal. I use 3M medical tape and just cut slim strips to get the job done.

Now I need hair transplants of my sideburns. Every time I remove the tape, there go about 2 hairs stuck fast to the dang tape. And YES, even women need some baby-fine sideburns or we look like we’ve had a shave there.

Glad the hard mini molds are working out for you!

#25

I had to have embedded receivers in custom molds. My first set came back and they didn’t follow my audiologist’s instructions. So it was just the part in the canal itself. I Loved how it looked, but they tended to back out. So Resound remade them. These have no danger of coming out.

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#26

Or a very soft silicone/other in a deformable ‘bag’ that already has the ITE face-plate on the front and the receiver/vent set on a slightly stiffer clear flexible tube. Give it a blast of UV down the tube and the lot goes off in the canal. Hey presto - instant custom CIC.
Minimal absorption of UV into the canal wall as the material diffuses it as it plasticises.

Not good for very powerful ITE where the receiver needs more isolation, but for 80-90% of cases?..

Would work great for RIC too - you could even have different CC versions for the range of Ear sizes etc.

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#27

Oh my gosh, that’s it. That would make the remake, remake, remake obsolete. It would always fit, no feedback, and would always stay in.