OK, what do custom ear molds get me? I have the Phonak Naida S CRT IX, and have a very small ear opening. I am using the smallest dome available, but they tend to want to come out of my ear. I am currently trying a larger dome in my right ear (it is the one that tends to slip out the most) but it is not quite as comfortable as the small dome. My HIS has suggested that custom ear molds might be the way to go, but has left that up to me, based on my tolerance for the larger dome. Will the custom ear molds just be more comfortable? Will they add anything hearing wise? Will the aids need to be “re-tuned”? Will they make me feel stopped up, like ear plugs do?
This forum has been a valuable source of information in my quest for better hearing, thank you all in advance for your help.
Steve,
The custom mold will give you a more comfortable stable fit that won’t “tend to want to come out of my ear.” Depending on you hearing loss it will have a vent hole to relieve the stopped up feeling and I believe you HIS will have to go into the program and change it from domes to custom earmold. I use custom molds and wouldn’t use anything else because of the comfort and stability factors alone.
Steve, Thanks for this thread! I’ve been waiting to make the order on custom molds and have been putting off calling my HIS. (I’ve already done the impressions).
Your questions and the answers from “seb” are very timely. I really love this forum.
I think I’ll call her right now and have them ordered.
Thanks,
Scott
Thanks for the reply! So as far as programming goes, it’s just a simple switch in the program, not a complete re-program? That’s do-able. I don’t want to have to start over again. The aids are working pretty good for me now as-is, with the exception of wanting to come out of my ear. I find myself continually pushing them back in.
once you get use to the custom molds you will never go back. could be the that your tube/wire is a little short also causing the domes to want to pull out. either way customs molds are well worth the upgrade. In the software they will need to switch the setting from domes to molds and probably rerun the frrd-back manager.
I had always assumed that when you pay $4K+ for a set of HA, you get custom fitted molds. It wasn’t until recently that I learned, here, that many dispensers (and mfrs.) assume one of a few diff. sizes would work for all people.
That would be like assuming you only have to make 3 or 4 different shoe sizes or eyeglass frame sizes. Shoes and eyeglasses are a fraction of the price of HA - why do large numbers of dispensers and users think a “pre-made” size would work? Your dentist wouldn’t do this when replacing a tooth.
Mike,
No one that I know of gives you custom earmolds for nothing when you buy the HA’s unless your getting the aids from the VA. My audi charges $150 for the impressions and the molds, Costco charges $80 for the same thing.
That makes no sense. What you are saying is: The HA will cost you $4K+ - but to make them functional you have to pay $80-$150 extra. When I first got mine from the Kaiser HA center, she told me the HA she would recommend (open fit Phonak), stuck some wax or something in my ears to make molds and said to come back in a couple weeks. I just assumed for $4K something like that was included. She didn’t tell me I could save $100 by getting “one-size-fits-all” molds.
I did make a trip to Costco before that. The audi there wanted to sell me a closed system that wouldn’t allow me to use a phone in a normal matter. I have never had trouble w. using a phone - w. or w.o. HA. I use a BT headset with my cell phone - which I am on a lot during the day. No problem w. using it over my HA.
Thanks to this forum, I knew that for my type of loss, an open fit, like the Kaiser audi recommended when I finally went to them - was what I needed.
I could use an open fit HA and tried one with the thin tubes and domes, but chose to get HA’s that needed earmolds and after wearing them I would never use a HA without them, in my opinion they are way more comfortable than using the various domes. Once you try a custom mold you won’t want to go back to a dome. Finally, when your talking thousands for the HA’s what’s another $150 for your overall comfort?
How are they more comfortable? I don’t even feel my open fits at all. I’m getting my new HA’s in a month. My audi says I would probably benefit from a custom mold in that ear, but if I"m happy with just the open fit and feel I hear well enough to just go with that. It’s only $75 that she charges.
What is the difference between the two as far as hearing? Do you just hear better without straining more?
Tisha, I switched from open fit with the tiny domes to custom molds and thick tubes. I find the custom molds do stay put better, although my ears sometimes get sweaty. I switched the tube size, too, so there’s two variables happening, but I found the sound fuller somehow. The main thing that I noticed is that, when someone said something I didn’t quite catch, I could often play it back in my head and figure out quickly what s/he’d said. Before, when I played it back in my head, it just sounded like garbage.
I did have to get them readjusted several times, though. Loud sounds were a problem – in places where I’d previously put the aids in mute and just used my residual hearing I could no longer do that because now there are basically ear plugs in my ears. And my voice sounded terrible and hollow in noisy situations. Reprogramming did help.
I agree that it’s worth a try. I’ve decided to try anything offered, since there isn’t a good way to know when you’ve hit the limit on improvements. Have you tried different tubes, too? Not a single audiologist mentioned to me that I might do better with them, but one time, serendipitously, the rep happened to be in the office when I had an appointment, and she suggested they might help. I’d thought my low frequency low wasn’t bad enough to warrant them, but I do like the thick tubes much better.
I like the earhook/thickwall tubing/skeleton mold much better. The feedback is gone, without using feedback suppression in the programming, which others say damages the quality of the sound. Additionally, you can make that switch midyear, if you believe there is more loss, without a new audiogram. Some sounds may become more irritating, but, all in all, I am glad I made the switch.
Tisha,
I went with the custom molds for several reasons, first I’m pretty active and wanted my HA’s to stay put; several friends who had open fit HA’s had lost them while working and didn’t realize they had fallen out and never found them again and I didn’t want this to happen. I too would also say the molds with the larger tube has a fuller sound. As for comfort, with the thin tube I had problems with them moving and when they did this they would sometimes itch and with the earmold you don’t know it’s there and it stays put. They did itch every so often for the first two or three weeks but after that It got to the point that I didn’t even feel them. Because my lows are still good both molds have a large vent in them that allows a lot of natural sound to still enter my ears so I don’t have any occlusion at all. I think that once you try custom molds you will be a convert, but that’s just my opinion.
I have moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears.
I have alway used HAs in the ear type.
Just a few days ago I had my annual test and was able to get new HAs oredered.
I will get Xino micro wireless ones that are behind the ear with all the special stuff for TV, Bluetooth and more.
Well becaue of my severe hearing loss she said I must get the custom molds to make these work properly with my severe loss.
No big deal as long as they are vented. Really a proper custom mold is worth it.
I did not need custom molds (as some people do) due to the level of my hearing loss. I needed them because one of my hearing aids with open domes (no matter which size dome I tried) fell out of my ear several times in the first month–without me even being aware of it! :eek: I’d look down, and there it would be on the floor at my feet. I knew it was just a matter of time before that aid was gone and lost for good, and my audiologist agreed. $$$$$$$$$$$$
But once I got custom molds, I found there were bonuses in improved focus of hearing and less itchiness. Yes, the software settings for the aid will need to be modified when switching between domes and molds. Or you may need a new pair of molds with a different vent size than you start with, as I did, as they may otherwise be prone to occlusion (barrel-echo-type sound) but it’s not hard for an audiologist to adjust the settings. And fitting custom ear molds is tricky: just a tiny bit too big, and they will be uncomfortable; just a tiny bit too small, and they will not be retained. (My mold-maker deliberately made mine a tad too big to start with and let the audiologist Dremel them down, because it’s possible to reduce the size but not possible to make them bigger without tossing them and starting over.) I had not considered the tube size issue before reading this thread–I didn’t realize there were different tube thicknesses to play with!
As Uncle Larry posted above, I wouldn’t go back to domes now that I’ve tried custom molds. If your audiologist prices them fairly, they’re worth trying if you have any reason to even though (since they’re custom made), they are nonrefundable if you’re unhappy with them, because in the context of hearing aid prices, they’re cheap to try. I think mine were $140 for the casting and pair of molds almost three years ago now, and that price included the right to request a new casting and molding within 60 days or something similar. I needed a second pair only to make the vent bigger (something my audiologist did not want to try to fix).
They also make a earmold with an adjust a vent. This mold comes with various sizes of inserts that will make the vent hole either smaller by adding inserts or larger by removing some of them. This makes it easier to narrow down what works for you.
