Maybe I had luck with my ear canal. As said above I can move the mold out of the ear just a few micrometer and then there is no or only little contact to my jaw.
Some mold manufacturer suggest using a “nugget” for this. On the other hand there are only very few who wear unvented soft mold at all. You can try to close an open vent of your hard custom mold first.
Can you please enter your audiogram into your profile, maybe you aren’t a candidate for unvented molds anyway.
I used to wear Naida aids with power slimtubes and soft silicone ear molds. These molds had a 1mm vent which is very small, almost none. These molds were canal lock design molds. The lock is a small piece of silicone that fits into an upper crevice of the ear. This small piece turned out to be an easy way to get a hold of the mold to pull it out. Using the slimtube to pull them out would come loose from the silicone mold.
With these molds I would hear the drumming sound with each step as I walk. Same thing with chewing but I can hear much better with these molds.
From the BTE aids I moved to RIC aids and soft silicone molds with canal locks. These too have major occlusion. My next step is to try hard lucite skeleton molds wit select a vents. Hopefully this will help with occlusion.
I wear custom ITE HA’s and have a pressure vent to help with the pressure and the occlusion effect to some degree. I have severe hearing loss. When I was wearing analog ITE HAs back in the day there was no vent since analog HAs did not have feedback management. I got use to the occlusion effect. With the digital HA’s I am able to get enough high frequency gain with a pressure vent. Also my HA’s were made with a deep ear canal which helped with the feedback. And with a RIC or BTE HA the feedback should be less of a problem since the microphone is farther away from the receiver than with a ITE HA. Having no vent increases the low frequencies sound in the ear(occlusion) and does not allow natural mid-high frequencies sound travel through a vent(this depends on degree of hearing loss). My audi always recommends trying an aid with a pressure vent and if is does not work out you can always plug the vent and see if that works. Also what brand of HA do you have? As far as feedback management is concerned all major manufacturers have good feedback control but I think Starkey stills has the best to what I have been fitted with. Again the type and degree of hearing loss impacts in how you can be fitted with a HA.
Well from reading posts I’m going to gather that a “more severe/profound” hearing loss dictates trying (first) a unvented soft hearing mold and testing to see if it works. I’m in Dani’s camp regarding issues with unvented mold and jaw movement (also walking) but its been a while since I’ve tried a unvented mold. Maybe eight years ago.
What I also find interesting is the depth of the “ear canal” mold. I’ve recently switched Audi’s but in the past (with old Audi) my ear canal (mold) section was made very long. And I’m not sure that’s ideal with a unvented mold, since the longer the mold the more it trigger occlusion with jaw movement. Just guessing here? A shorter ear can mold might allow for less movement when eating/walking etc. Maybe some here think I have this backwards, but the depth of a ear mold does play some role.
Just not sure how much.
Regarding canal length…older studies showed that a longer ear canal length can reduce occlusion effect due to less space between the ear drum and HA output therefore less space for low frequencies to bounce around. The drawback of long canal length is comfort of the mold.
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Well then maybe “longer” the better. I’ll need to compare my new mold canal (length) to my current ones and see if there is any significant difference.
"Diminished occlusion effect. The occlusion effect occurs when an object seals the outer portion of the ear canal, causing the wearer to perceive a hollow echoic sound in his/her own voice. In the case of hearing aid wearers, the effect is caused by sound vibrations trapped within the occluded ear canal.
Successful resolution to the occlusion effect is twofold: 1) obtain a solid seal in the bony portion of the ear canal, and 2) decrease the spatial placement between the tip of the instrument and the tympanic membrane, thus limiting the opportunity for vibrations. Experience in proper deep-fitting techniques can achieve such desirable results, with little to no resulting occlusion effect.6"
One trick that I have used is to apply a very thin coating of Miracell liquid. I got this stuff from my audiologist and it is slightly oily and also very calming for itchy ears like mine. The best thing about using it is that it allows for a deeper and quicker install of the molds. There is no chance for sound to leak out once they are in your ear canal. Of course you have to make sure the molds are cleaned off before bedtime or you have a slightly sticky residue on them the next morning. I generally clean this off with antiseptic ‘wet ones’ wipes for the molds and the outer part of my ear canal.
Hi Dani, Naida M90s are by far the best aids I have used yet as my hearing problems slowly get worse the older I get. I can appreciate the higher level of technology that has gone into these aids the longer I wear them. And I particularly appreciate all the cool gadgets that connect with them that make the experience even better. However, I can also detect very slight pauses and irritating signals that happen as the aids change from one program to another in the autosense setting (such as when someone turns on music while I am in conversation with someone else.) I trust that this kind of transition will be ironed out in the next firmware release.
By the way, I was at Oberammergau many years ago (1960 to be exact) and the Passionspiel was on (as always at the start of every decade). This year I expect will be very different with COVID-19. Sadly, I would expect that the play will not be on as usual.
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I am not sure about the Naida aids but my Oticon OPN1 aids were slow to switch the programs with the changing environment and I told my Audi and he was able to change something in the computer software that he said made the transition much faster, I no longer detect the transitioning of the programs.
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This is simple tuning. No firmware update needed.
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@Gramps
Has the other thread about number of programs been closed? Here we talk about occlusion with non-vented molds. Anyway my Naida B70 were the best aids I’ve ever had, too. And oh, the Passion play were cancelled this year. And Oktoberfest 
@spectrumplay
Now that you’ve posted your audiogram: Wow, don’t you have the choice to go for a CI? Your loss is terribly bad. I’ve gone the path this year in February and I like the feeling not to have any mold or dome in my ear canal. It’s fantastic.
Thanks for sharing your audiogram.
I went to the ENT today. Scheduled a CI evaluation for next week.
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I hope it works out for you. I believe you are like me and do what it takes to hear better when it is possible. Please let us know and the steps as it goes forward
Heading in that direction Dani for possible CI in near future. I need to explore a few more power aids and let the coronavirus threat die down. There are pros and cons with a CI but eventually a hearing aid can only do so much, if hearing level drops off the map.
Have you considered the Oticon Exceed or Phonak Naida aids? Looking at your audiogram either should work for you.
Without putting your audiogram in Phonak Target I would think soft silicone molds with a 1mm vent would be pretty close to right for you. I could look if you want.
Current and last Audi steered me away from Xceed. Not exactly sure why but I think (both) felt the Oticon aid was not performing well for other customers they have issued hearing aid too. I believe Phonak Naida came out a while back so I’ll be looking for something a little more current.
Your hearing loss is well within the 110-120 dB range of the Phonak Naida M SP aids unless you have other hearing loss issues not noted. They might be worth a try.
Good luck
One of my molds is vented (60 dB receiver). The other is unvented (105 dB receiver). I went from a vented mold to an unvented mold when I got my new hearing aids. I had no problem with the change and it required no adjustment on my part. For me, it was a non-event, aside from significantly improving my hearing.