DIY silicone mold for RIC

[wdgowen]

I just started using Phonak Audeo V90 13’s. I’d like to do some custom silicone earmolds. The instructions say to wrap the silicone material around the body of the tip but the instructions are for regular open fit BTE’s. They say do the same thing for RIC receivers. My question is where is the microphone on RIC hearing aids? Is it in the receiver or in the aid body? I don’t want to cover up anything that needs to be open.

And one more ?:
Will my aids connect directly to a phone or do I need to use the Easy Call adapter?

[Raudrive]

Welcome to the forum.
@Markismus might give you some ideas about molds.
Your V90 aids are probably Audeo V90 13 aids. They are RIC type aids. The microphones are in the body of the aid and the receiver (speaker) is on the end of the wire that goes in your ear.
The ear mold needs to be made like an impression in your ear. Then you need to drill an opening in it that ends at the point nearest to your ear drum. Or you could contact Lloyd’s Hearing Aids and they can help you get both ears done for about $125 and they will be done right for sure.

Your Audeo V90 aids use the Compilot2 to connect your phone to your aids.

[wdgowen]

I have a kit from this source. The molds are made with the receiver in your ear,

https://earmolds.info/open-fit-ear-molds/

[Markismus]

@wdgowen This thread is also about silicone custom molds. It always seems that the DIY kits have a more glossy finish, while the artist silicone is more matte.

The reason why you would envelop the tip is that you will have a perfectly fitting hole in your mold. The Phonak receivers have a little bend at the end, nowadays, so they seem less perfect for drilling.*
However, you will either have to remove the receiver to drill a hole in the end of the mold to allow the sound to enter the ear or take care to put the putty not in front of the exit of the receiver.

I always find it rather a hassle to get the receiver perfectly centered in the custom mold. So I choose for drilling. Another nice aspect of drilling is that when you vary the drill hole diameter, you can swell the mold a tiny amount: Making a bit more tighter fit to ensure the canal is truly closed off by the mold. Maybe experimenting with a (small) dome attached to the receiver and enveloping the whole, would yield nice results.

You will have to drill if you need a vent, though. Diameters vary from 0.6mm to 1.6mm and even larger. Normal is around 1mm (0.8-1.2mm). In Phonak Target> acoustics>custom mold there is a recommendation for the vent size based on your hearing loss.

It is strange that the vent doesn’t have that large an impact as a badly fitting custom mold. I use 1mm vent holes and a 3 month old custom mold was outperformed by 10dB by a newly made one on the lowest frequency (250Hz) in AudioDirect testing. (Measuring error being 5dB.)

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*If you allow for the receiver to be pushed all the way through the custom mold, this problem is of course less. From the front of the mold you drill a small hole (with a length of approx. 3mm) first. Then from the back of the mold you drill straight to the end of that hole. Indeed, for people with narrow ear canals the Phonak receivers will be more easy. It will avoid having to drill to close to the inner bend and changing drilling through the side of the mold, for example:

[wdgowen]

Thanks very much for the detailed description!

At present I’m using custom skeleton molds that I got from Lloyds to use with my Exelia Art P’s. They came unvented. I drilled a 1/16" (1.6mm) vent and have been using them that way for a year or so.

I just changed from Exelia Art P to Audeo V90 13’s. I started out with the largest domes but have now switched to smaller ones. I’m getting what I think are very good results with this setup but have wondered about custom silicone molds.

The instructions that came with my silicone kit say to put a dome on the receiver, wrap the mixed material around the body of the receiver up to the dome and put it in your ear for a few minutes. This seems pretty easy and mostly foolproof. My hesitation now is that I’m getting pretty good results with the domes alone. I may or may not try the silicone molds.

For phone calls I bought a Phonak Easy Call. This is a BT streaming device that you attach to the back of the phone. I’m using a very large phone and the idea of having another device attached to it is not very attractive so I haven’t installed it yet. I rarely use the phone (for calls) so am still considering options for this. If I have trouble with calls I’ll probably look into a ComPilot II.

For awhile in the past I used a ComPilot and TV Link for my TV listening but was never very happy with that setup. Battery life was bad and whenever my wife wanted to talk to me I had to stop her while I switched the ComPilot off. So far the new aids are making TV dialog understandable in most situations. Headphones work well for the TV but again I have to remove them for conversations.

I see that the Target software is hard to find. I got it from one of the several eBay suppliers that I used when I was buying my system. I don’t have an audiogram yet (will get one next week). I have tuned my used aids with the Target programs for automatic fine tuning and have been happy with the results.

[Raudrive]

It sounds like you are doing well with programming.
Did you use Audiogram Direct to fit your aids? If so that audiogram can be entered into the forum avatar.
Did you run feedback manager? This should be done anytime domes/molds sizes are changed.
For us self programming I have found audiogram direct and feedback manager very important to get a good fit.
You may know all this but just mentioning it.

[wdgowen]

I don’t have an audiogram yet but will get one next week. I ran the feedback manager on the aids but basically just started out with the programming that was already in them.

The wires hurt my ears for a few days. I switched out to my old aids for parts of the past few days. Now I can get thru a nearly whole day with the new aids without pain.

The Target program interface is vastly different from iPFG. So far I’ve resisted playing with it much since the new aids are working well.

[Raudrive]

Yes, iPFG and Target are different. After using both for a while I like Target best. They both do about the same thing in the same manner but Target is just easier to follow for me at least.

You should really do audiogram direct, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Save your fitting and create a new client to try things. Piece of cake.

[wdgowen]

I just tried it with an online audio test. I couldn’t save the results on the audiogram direct screen for some reason. I’ll try it again and do a screen grab so maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong.

[wdgowen]

I entered the AC and UC points (without knowing much about what I was doing). Then I could save the results. I think I’ve attached a screen grab of the results.

Overall the results seem acceptable. I have a lot more amplification of low frequencies than I had before. This brings up room noises a lot.

[Raudrive]

Thanks,
I can not say it enough about this, use audiogram direct to tune your aids. If you need more info, PM me about this. It is hands down the best way to set your aids up.