For some when their hearing loss gets worse the need for better acoustics (ear molds) can be surprising. It was for me.
When your lower frequencies get into the 40 DB or worse range it’s typical to move towards ear molds for better feedback control and gain at the eardrum.
A comment here really helped.
2 weeks ago the hearing aid practitioner put power receivers on my hearing aids, and added sports locks and put the power domes on again. I had the power domes for the last 8 months or so. Change? the sports locks.
I took the sports locks off. I’m happier today. I think that the receiver was held closer to the eardrum with the sports lock on. I think without them that they stay a little further out. Overthinking? Don’t know.
Last time I saw the hearing aid practitioner, he
Last night I cut the sports locks on the receivers off. I think that they held the receiver deeper down my air canal.
today things seem a little better.
Thanks for your comments and support.
DaveL
I never liked domes, and pretty much begged for ear molds. Ear molds make a world of difference in speech understanding and speech in noisy environments.
Hi Dave, Ken here… I have always had custom vented ear molds, the speakers (in the ear) are 2P types, since my loss is severe, making the molds is critical for good fitting, over the years I have had to redo the right one a few times, the ones that I have now with my P70’s are just right with no feedback, unless I put my hand over the ear, I hear a VERY small amount of squealing, my Audi says it’s ok like that. After a few adjustments, I took the App and adjusted the default startup to what I wanted and saved it as new, like listening to my grandfather clock gongs and ticks, I live in a very quiet environment, I even jump when my Rotty booms at a a passing dog from the back deck (200m away). The mod’s that I made, I showed them to my Audi last time for a 4th adjustment (I think) and we put them in the default startup, since then it’s been pretty good all around, I still complain about the neighbors making to much noise with their grass cutting gear, add those leaf contractors blowers in there, for that I switch to one of my custom programs I made in the App. Just thought I’d pass that along. My wife has real good hearing and also complains about the loud lawnmowers. In a family of 7 kids, 5 have have hearing issues, 2 have CI’s, my father was stone deaf at 60, go figure. I am tuning 78 soon, so I don’t complain about that, at least I can hear pretty good most of the time, take these off and total silence except for my tinnitus.
@kgmgpm
Hi Ken.
Same age.
Live in the flightpath of Toronto airport. It’s noisy.
I saved a program. Used it the next day. Started at 9:00 am. Finished at 4:00 pm with dead batteries. Both hearing aids. Normally I barely get to 10:00 pm.
Hearing aids are 2-1/2 + years old. They’ve never been setup right. But they’re getting better.
This morning I cut the new sports locks off. It made a difference. I think that when I put the hearing aids on they stayed way in my ear.
I have new Power receivers too. I have volume -2 right now in auto. Hold my ears over my ears and very little feedback.
I don’t quite have the same loss as you.
DaveL
I bet when I get them I’ll wish I had done it long ago.
I’ve hated my Phonaks since I got them. I got no say; they just showed up.
Deal breakers for me:
Stable gain is one of the benefits of nicely fitted earmolds. Of course, they are no good if they aren’t comfortable. cvkemp’s advice to chew while having the mold taken is good. I don’t think your clinician is under any WSIB restrictions on when he can order you earmolds. However, custom earmolds benefit from accurate audiograms and I do have some minor concerns about that based on your history. 
Why do you think the dispensing audi’s tests were the ones that were bad rather than the new guy, if you feel the best setup was the first fit off of those tests and you are finding the current set-up boomy? I guess I’m just suspicious of the massive hearing drop you experienced from one provider to the other–has that been confirmed?
If you get cShell earmolds, they will also use the cerustop wax guard instead which you will probably find easier.
If you sit in a beam forming program, or have cranked some other feature that is activating ear-to-ear work, it sucks the batteries right down.
This is a weird sort of bait and switch that was pulled on you? To get the 90s your clinician has to make a special request and you need to sign off on it, and then you still have a trial period during which time you can return them.
You make me sad. It really can’t be this hard to get good care in the GTA, can it?
Dispensing Audi said he could set up my Peel Audiology hearing aids but he would rather get new hearing aids. I signed the form trusting him. His plan was to fill it out later. I had had two sets of Phonaks. Second set I couldn’t hear diesel equipment behind me or cars behind me.
The new hearing aids were Phonak Audeo Paradise P90Rs. I can hear behind me. However from the beginning I couldn’t understand speech in quiet or noise.
He set up the Peel Audiology hearing aids second last appointment. I told him they were better than my P90s and said there must be something simple that was wrong. There’s more but that’s enough.
We shook hands. He had done a quick fit. All my programs were gone. He gave me a hearing test that showed my hearing had improved.
At full volume I heard better once I turned it up
A month later I phoned a company in Hamilton. They took me on. They used the quick fit hearing test. Did a quick fit and it was much better than before. I asked what he found. The L and R hearing aids didn’t communicate when I brought them in. And the dispensing Audi had specified open domes. I had used vented domes for a long time.
I heard better with the Hamilton firm than the dispensing Audi.
I’m much better today with new wax guards Power Domes and the sports locks removed. I hate the wax guards. I change them every 5 to 7 days. Often they’re crooked when I take them out. Every Audi has said my ears are clean. I’ve had issues with sports locks provided. The last ones fit perfectly. But they interfere with the circular wax guard case.
Hope this explanation helps. I wish the dispensing Audi well. Erasing my hearing aids and doing a quick fit without telling me before bothers me a lot.
I think settings are getting better. I have a saved program. I pushed clarity. It was calm situation. I increased background noise detection. Opened up the mic beam. And changed compression to the left.
That’s much more comfortable in the Jeep. I drive for work most days.
I don’t enjoy manually adjusting programs. I must use my cell phone to see what program I’m in. I can’t do that driving.
Thanks Neville.
Dave
Was he trying to match the quick fit that he’d done to your Peel audiology hearing aids that you told him was better?
No. They were set up like my new hearing aids were. Before he erased them.
I think he had never set up the P90s before he set up mine.
I only used the back ups for an hour or so at home. I haven’t used them on construction sites in case I can’t hear vehicles behind me. I had near misses and wasn’t aware the loaders were overtaking and passing me. Scary
It’s just. . . this is the hearing loss that you had in your avatar previously, presumably from the dispensing audi, compared to the one you have now apparently done by the new guy.
They’re so different. Particularly in the left ear. Without you having a noticable hearing loss event, it’s just a bit of a strange mystery. The older audiogram looks like a pretty standard age and noise related hearing loss. The newer one looks complex, like something medical happened to the left ear.
Without your hearing aids, this difference between your ears should be really noticable. Is it? When you plug your right ear, you must hear very little with your left.
Additionally, that sort of asymmetry gets referred to an ENT.
I’ve felt my hearing has changed since about the time the new hearing was done
I went back in a week it was a little worse. I went back again. And it was worse again.
I’ve been a heart patient for 15 months. Had stents put in. Turned down open heart surgery.
See my cardiologist on Monday.
I had a heart recovery program for 6 months. At hospital. I have 3 docs giving me prescriptions. I don’t like that. Family doc. Cardiologist. Urologist.
And 4 months in guy in next office to mine offed himself. That really shook me up. Last October. Now I have 3 of his jobs to do.
I think one of the hearing tests you show was the last one from the dispensing Audi. He said my hearing had improved and my hearing aids would be quieter. I had less high frequency loss.
I’ll experiment tomorrow. I do appreciate your comments. A lot. Thank you
Strange. A normal day for me I put my hearing aids in first thing and use them all day.
I’ve sat inside without hearing aids and can’t hear a thing with either ear.
I went outside. Normally there are planes on final a thousand feet overhead. There are no planes today. It’s wonderful.
My experiment will continue when I have noise to test with. I can’t hear cars driving by either.
DaveL
Did you have the vented domes in? Cuz if so, THAT explains it! You simply won’t get the focused POWER of hearing if the domes are vented.
Like you, I’ve tried custom made molds. Disaster for me is that I’m allergic to any of the materials AND my ears swell UP and go down. I used to chew when the putty was in my ear, but no matter. Custom mold simply wouldn’t fit my canals good and tight. And if they did fit, I’d have near contusions of pain when my ears were swollen (morning).
My double-dome power domes aren’t perfect either! They seem to allow some leakage and feedback now and then - most likely cuz my ear canals change shape throughout the day. I wish they sold 15mm power domes! Mine are size LARGE and they still don’t seem to fit,
So while I can relate to your GOOD days/BAD days, it’s up to you to experiment and see what combo works best. Domes are SUPER easy to pop off and put on. So you could experiment with domes of different sizes, vented, unvented, shapes, different sizes for each ear - whatever!
It could be that vented domes are only good in VERY quiet places. Yes, they’d sound more natural cuz they let in more ambient noise not controlled by the aid. But for me, with cinderblock ears, I need a GOOD SEAL. Ideally I’d have custom molds, but I’ve never found any that don’t cause PAIN or allergic reaction.
Don’t give up! Keep trying and know that hearing challenges in different situations may require a multitude of “fixes”.
I wonder if it’s the medications post-heart surgery. 
Oof, that is a lot. And cardio stuff can indeed impact hearing.
