Bte Tubing

Hi,
Here’s a question I hope somone can help me with.
I currently wear a BTE with a Lucite earmold.

I am going to replace the tubing myself since the place I purchased my aid is no longer here.

My question, does it matter how long you make the tube ?
Does the length of the tube affect the quality of sound ?

I just happened to be searching images for other BTE users, and I notice that the pictures
I was seeing showed that the tubing was quite shorter between the ear hook and the earmold than what I currently have on mine.

My ear hook rests right on the top of the ear so that when looking at me
all you can see is the tubing going straight down to the earmold.

I was just curious and thought maybe it had to do with the sound quality.

Anyone have any thoughts on this ??

Laura
Left
250–65
500-90
1000-90
2000-100
4000-110
8000-nothing

The length of the tubing matters for retention…not sound quality. When you take off the old tube, save it so that when you put the new tube in you can hold it up and cut it off at the same place so it is the same length. If it’s too long it’ll fall off your ear all the time and if it’s too short it will be really uncomfortable and potentially cause a raw spot on the top of your ear or pull the earmold out if it’s not a super-tight fit.

Hi Laura

Tis simple to change tubing once you have done this a few times, I have literally done this 100’s of times… I worked with Deaf Services, and changing tubing for mostly elderly clients was one of my jobs. I found the method below to be the quickest and most effective! You will only require a set of sharp scissors for the whole operation :smiley:

Now, most tubing comes bent double, you want to utilize this bend! With the scissors, you narrow the tubing diameter at one end, by splitting the tubing in half for about 1 1/2 inches, this should be plenty? Feed this through the back of the mold, you may have to trim slightly more off to get started, once the tubing is through, pull on the tubing until you hit the knuckle of the the bend and your tubing is pointing strait up, with practice, you will learn to hold the tubing in an L-shape prior to pulling through, so the bend always points up! Snip off the excess on the inside, hold the “Old tubing” against the outside as DocAudio says, snip off at the correct length…Job sorted!!!:smiley:

Good luck. Cheers Kev:D

Thank You for your input.

I was curious about the sound quality because I’m starting to have problems where for some reason
the speech I’m hearing is becoming muffled a lot. I did notice that my ear mold doesn’t seem to fit as snug as it used to.
I’ve had this aid for about 6 years now, and I’m sure it’s probably considered out of date, but it has always worked fine until now.
I have always had problems with speech recognition because of only wearing one aid, but it just seems to be getting worse.
I thought maybe the tube had something to do with it.

Laura

Thank You kevels55,
I’ll keep that handy tip next time I need to change my tube.

Laura

Laura, Does your hearing aid have a filter in the ear hook? If so the filter may have become damp with perspiration or other moisture. You can remove this filter with very little effect on the sound quality. Just unscrew the ear hooh and push a thin wire through the ear hook to remove the filter. If the aid still sounds muffled there may be a problem with the hearing aid itself.

Hi audiosmalls.

Nope no filter

Sounds like there may be something wrong with the hearing aid itself. Only other thing I can think of is if the tube is blocked somehow. Have you tried blowing air through the tube?

I blow out the tube every night before retiring for the evening.
I’m thinking it must be the aid or my hearing has changed.
I haven’t had a test done in a few years.
I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and get everything look at.
Thanx for your help.
Laura