Happy New Year to everyone.
I have had a left ear mould since 2006. About three months ago, I noticed that it was not working as it should, and I could not hear much on the left side.
My audiologist had a new mould made but there was no difference, so she had another one made, which went further into the canal. It is not a lot better, and I don’t know what is going on.
I will see her again, to see what she thinks.
@JohnD2: Happy New Year, John.
Sixteen uears of service for a mould is a long time … plastic ages, loses plasticizers to the environment, changes texture and shape. Your ear canal can age and change shape, too. It doesn’t take much to spoil a good acoustic coupling.
If, however, you suspect something more insidious is going on, I’d book an appointment with your ENT.
Happy New Year… Did the Audiologist retest your hearing @JohnD2? I get a hearing retest at least every couple of years, mostly every year though, I have this done, to see if there are any changes in my overall hearing…16 years, or so with the one set of moulds is an incredible amount of time! I change my BTE Moulds every year, the NHS A.uD recommends this, if I don’t, they become discoloured & loose fitting, feedback becomes an issue! You haven’t had the same set of hearing aids all that time have you? We would need more information please, in order to advise, your Audiogram would be extremely helpful… Cheers Kev.
Pretty sure John has the Nathos Auto UP from remembering previous posts.
He did have the SP but changed to UP.
The Naida P70 UP is now being handed out by NHS.
Wow Ruth… If the NHS is dishing out Phonak Naida Paradise 70 UP’s, that is indeed excellent news for severe/profound hearing aid users in the UK, thank you for that information… 
In truth Ruth, I don’t mind buying my own aids, I get PIP, so I can afford to buy new aids every couple of years or so, I will wait for the Phonak Nadia Lumity 90 to come out, if it does? I am noticing Boots Hearing Care, is now charging 10% deposit & 11% interest on their new aids, payable over 2 years, they must’ve got stung with the interest free credit option? Cheers Kev 
That’s fair enough.
I’m still on DLA Altho I’ve never bought directly from Boots (apart from ear moulds).
Buying Aids from eBay and self programming.
There are a few features that aren’t on the Marvel, Paradise and assume Lumity that I love on my Venture.
I’m not sure I’ll upgrade again.
Altho I’ve got Sky V70 UP on NHS, I’m thinking of buying spare brand new and sealed ones on eBay.
I won’t get rid of my Sky M70 SP but I don’t always wear them. Maybe 4 out of 7 days of wearing them.
I also don’t hear any better with the M70 then I do with the V70. My V70 were set up with REM and transferred settings like you but there’s no improvement from better technology.
Hi, I’m curious, what are the features on venture that you love?
It’s more about when I listen to music, do a phone call or telecoil.
Telecoil and music can only be set to be -10 dB max for Mic attenuation.
Phone Call is max -6 dB attenuation.
I hate having my Mics off as I like to hear around me but I have a useless left ear where I don’t get any benefit from ‘streaming’ (also including Roger) unless it’s at -30 dB on my Venture.
Due to it being a max of -10 dB on the Marvel, I feel like I’m only ‘streaming’ from my right ear.
Also there’s some features that have disappeared from the updated software that allowed you to do certain things on the Venture. I can cheat the software to program the Marvel the same way but it’s annoying that Phonak have taken away certain features.
Thank you all for your replies.
I have had several ear moulds during that time, and they have all been ok.
I am still using the Nathos UP, I haven’t been offered any upgrade yet.
I am wondering if the ear canal has somehow changed it’s shape, so the tube is blocked by the side of the canal.
Perhaps someone will have an idea.
I should say my ears are similar in terms of when I use facial expressions, my ear canals block my sound.
I have to have my ear moulds go past my second bend to stop this issue.
My main issue is when I smile.
oh right that is annoying, at least they didn’t remove it completely on venture. I’m self programming on Audio venture atm, have to be careful which software I update to, must be some way to run multiple versions of target to ‘future’ proof ourselves
Did she do a hearing test? it sound like you are on the last line of hearing aid before CI… I am sorry to say this but i think your hearing is on the last leg and CI is probably the only option for you…
I have had several failures due to a tone hook developing moisture inside its filter in my BTEs. For me, it is the most common failure mode. Not the HA. Not the mold. I always keep extra tone hooks around now. This obviously doesn’t apply to RICs. I can describe how I troubleshoot if it would be helpful.
Hi Barb, I hope your well? I have only had that happen once in all my years of BTE’s… Sometimes (Moisture) in the ear hook swells the white damper, and completely seals any sound emitting from the hearing aid… @Zebras told me what the problem was at the time, and like you I now have plenty new ear hook spares, thank you for that reminder of that phenomenon… It’s a rare occurrence, but it does happen, could well be what’s happened @JohnD2…? Cheers Kev
My friend had this issue but it didn’t stop sound completely, it lowered the level by quite a lot.
Hi Zebras.
That is interesting, but how long does the mould need to be please?
Have you changed your ear hook to confirm your ear hook isn’t partly blocked?
As I said before, the ear mould need to be further than the second bend. Basically very close to the ear drum.
If you aren’t getting good sound when you’re not moving or talking then I don’t think a longer ear mould canal will work.
Very likely will be the ear hook that is the issue.
The end part, pass the purple line is pass the second bend.
In my case, the white damper had dropped down the ear hook, and jammed, perhaps because it was in the narrow section of the ear hook, the moisture swelled the damper, effectively closing it completely, I was getting no sound whatsoever from that aid, I thought it had packed in, after chatting with @Zebras on here, I removed the damper with a needle, and we where up and running again! To test it, just swap your other ear hook over @JohnD2, they are easy to remove John, you just unscrew the ear hook from your aid, remove the tubing & mould from the ear hook, and swap them about, this will tell you if the damper is blocking or partially blocking your offending aid, please note, the tubing gets brittle, I change my tubing every 4 to 6 months, if it has been on there for years, it will be difficult to remove/separate from the ear hook… If you can’t do it, or don’t feel confident enough, take it to Audiology, and they will replace both… Good Luck, cheers Kev
Edit; The videos below should give you some idea, of how to remove the ear hook…
