Feedback/Fitting Issues, Trying to ID a Dome

Hearing Aids
1

Hi all,

I was fitted with Marvels (M90) yesterday, and when the audiologist first brought them out, it was with a clear dome, which was not particularly flexible, and pretty much the shape of a semicircle, and I don’t think it had any vents.

There was a lot going on, and when I put that dome in one year, I was immediately occluded and so asked for other domes, and she brought me the standard Phonak large closed domes, which I have been wearing for six years with my Naidas.

She then did the feedback setting test, because with the Phonak gray closed domes I was getting serious feedback in both ears. It definitely muffled the high frequencies a bit.

But I think I have to start realizing that the resulting fit is just completely suboptimal for me. I’m one of those who then hears so much better if I then “close up” my ears, to get that added bass. It’s been an issue for me ever since RICs came out. (It’s also the difference between streamed music sounding like an AM transistor radio versus something much closer to good stereo headphones.)

I also note that with the Phonak closed domes I get in my right ear what I would call “scratchiness” on the high-end like my ear is a blown-out car speaker. But if I close my ear (or put a cheap soft earplug behind the receiver) that scratchiness is infinitely less noticeable. I never seemed to be able to explain it to my old audi in a way that she could grasp, and so I ended up with a terrible fitting for a lot of years.

I started back in the days of custom in-the-ear molds, the great clear ones with a single vent hole and a hole for the tube from the BTEs. I know I had slight occlusion problems, but for the most part was happy with them. I got custom molds made a few years ago for the RICs, but didn’t like them, though that may have been because we didn’t take enough time to try to fix the programming fit.

Anyone know what the clear half-domes with no vents were? I could ask the audi, of course, but it’s Saturday. :wink:

Also, any suggestions or pointers to previous threads on how to work with this issue would be much appreciated.

2

I just finished wearing custom molds on RIC. aids (KS6). The first set of molds made were uncomfortable enough to cause bleeding. I returned them and they had a set made by a different company.

Perhaps the RIC custom molds you tried were either ill fitting or just went too deep. I am currently wearing tulip domes on my KS8 aids.

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I don’t know why Phonak call their gray closed domes closed. They’re double vented

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Ah, thanks, the middle row is the one she started with.

6

Clear with no vents almost sounds like an Oticon power dome. Not sure though.

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My Marvels (on trial) also came with the round MOUND-shaped dome. (It was a shade of smoke topaz made of silicone.) The sound was so dim and faint that my audi immediately swapped in the double dome power domes that I had on my B-Direct aids. That did wonders!

I also find that if I could walk around all day with my fingers pressing the domes deeper into my ears, I’d hear a good 10-12% better! But that is simply not possible, so the best we can do is get domes that fit SUPER snug, but are comfy and don’t cause complete occlusion of sound. It’s a delicate balance.

Any kind of vented, tulip-shaped or single dome on my receivers does not give me the kind of seal I need for my kind of loss. Maybe try a pair of double domes. I buy mine at Amazon.com. They seem compatible with various models (Widex, Oticon, Phonak) as they stretch to fit over the tip of the receiver.