How often do you change your RIC Domes ? I just received my HA’s from the VA. They set me up with supplies like Batteries & Domes. I know batteries last 5-7 days, but I am not sure how often to change the domes.
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When they start to rip or feel thinner. So about every three to four months. This is with taking them off every night to clean them with alcohol wipes. (Phonak open domes ).
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I was given Starkey Livio 2400’s. In the mail today I received 30 Sets of 6 mm Ocludded Domes. So if that is the case I have enough Domes to last about 6 yes…
Seems like a topic for which you could have a poll.
And does your audi provide them?
Yes they do. Both Batteries and Domes.
The VA gave me 30 pairs of Domes & 160 Power One Batteries. Plus I had purchased 80 Batteries prior from the Hearingtracker shop. I’m good now for about 8 months before I need Batteries again.
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FWIW, I have Oticon Agil Pro HAs, and I’ve gone through roughly 40 sets of domes in 6 years, or just under 7/year. I wipe the domes carefully each night when I take them out. Domes last slightly longer in winter months than in summer months.
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OMG. I had no idea I was supposed to remove domes and wipe them down with alcohol each night. I’ve had my KS8’s for about 6 months and have done nothing re the domes. I was going to ask here, but saw this post, so no need. Guess I’ll just put new ones on now and start afresh.
I asked my audiologist about this subject. She gave me a number of extra domes but she also told me she doesn’t recommend changing them until they tear or something goes wrong with them. No specific time limit.
Physically removing the domes from the receivers to clean them, then putting them back on the receivers EVERY DAY might cause undue wear on the domes and make the domes liable to fall off the receivers in your ears more readily. Losing a dome in your ear would be bad…
On a visit to Costco to pick up a special order ReSound Multi-Mic, an audi there told me that if I cleaned my domes with alcohol wipes, it would be a good idea to change the domes every two months as the alcohol, he said, makes them more brittle.
Having cultured many a bacterium in my life, I’m not quite sure what sterilizing the dome does when one is not sterilizing the inside of one’s ear canal or the wax guard in the receiver when just using an alcohol wipe. If you’re sleeping on your side, pulling the covers over your head or outside with the wind blowing with dust, pollen, and mold in the air, I’m sure lots of stuff falls into your ear canal openings. Then you go to cram your sterile dome into your ear canal, ramming whatever microbes have fallen on this area right into your ear along with your sterile dome. (I’m addressing folks in general here, not commenting specifically on anyone’s particular post).
So obviously if one dropped one’s HA onto a dirty floor, it would probably be a very good idea to clean the dome with an alcohol wipe but if one allows the domes to dry every night and doesn’t allow the domes to come in contact with anything but the inside of your HA case (which you clean regularly), drying is a classic method of inhibiting bacteria growth (anyone eaten dried beef jerky without worrying about dying?). So I let my HA’s dry every night, clean them with a Jodi-Vac in the morning and reinsert the domes into the same old “dirty” ear canals they came out of yesterday-being careful not to let the domes touch anything but the inside of my charger case or my hands, which I wash and dry before handling the HA’s. When I work with the HA’s I rest them on a freshly pulled piece of paper towel, which is probably reasonably sterile.
I think if one likes clean domes and worries that when out of your ears they might be coming in contact with something obnoxious, not drying fast enough to prevent growth, etc…, there is nothing wrong (other than the brittleness factor, supposedly) with cleaning your domes with an alcohol wipe. OTH, my ReSound manual only mentions using a damp cloth moistened with an aqueous solution and specifically recommends AGAINST using anything alcohol-based on any part of my Quattro’s. ReSound is selling a medically-approved device and presumably has consulted medical experts in formulating the advice that they provide…
Just offering a “contrary” opinion to liven up the discussion and introduce the “dirty ear canal” factor to keep folks honest as to what good an alcohol wipe really does towards keeping your ear canals “sterile.” 
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I use the alcohol wipes to clean the domes not sterilise them. I do have a UV sanitizer in my D-dry which I use each night. My domes last 3-4 months and tear before they get loose on the receiver. If they were getting loose I would change them. Never had domes fall off. Just because the ear canal is not a sterile environment is no reason not to clean my domes.
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Yes. I agree. I wasn’t disagreeing that alcohol wipes aren’t an effective method of cleaning, probably a more effective method than an aqueous-based wipe with no alcohol in my experience. Just wanted to dissuade people of the idea that one was buying a whole lot of sterility no matter how one treats the HA’s, there’s still the ear canal itself, which I should imagine, like other human orifices and the human skin itself, is far from a sterile environment. Just saying an HA that’s treated respectfully when it’s out of the ear is basically going back into the same non-sterile environment that it came out of yesterday and although it’s nice to have very clean HA’s, I’m not sure either for the “reinjection” reason that it’s absolutely necessary to get every last little bit of gunk off the receivers and domes - it’s hard with a Jodi-Vac and I think if I turned my domes inside out while cleaning attached to the receivers that it would be easier to do an all-around bang-up job - but I don’t think it’s worth the wear-and-tear on the domes every day to turn them inside out.
As I mentioned in barging in here, just wanted to offer an opinion to liven up the discussion and make people think. Hopefully a variety of methods will work, people can chose what works best for them, and as long as reasonable hygiene is followed, the sort that one might follow in preparing and eating food, respecting the sensitivity of the electronics, etc., everything will work out, and hopefully no one will be likely to get a serious ear infection - the FDA emphasis on HA’s as medical devices seems to be on the damage inappropriate fitting can do to your ears, not so much the dangers of what handling techniques are necessary to avoid ear infections, etc.
From what I’ve heard and read, domes are more likely to come off in the ear if they aren’t the same brand as the receiver.
If they’re tearing, wouldn’t it be wise to change them on a schedule before that happens?
Perhaps but I don’t keep that tight a track of when they are changed - usually they start to tear or feel thinner and I figure it is time to change them. I have a good supply and I only remove the domes to clean them when I am at home so they are easily replaced if I think they need it. The tearing is minor and easily spotted.
I was just worried about you getting one stuck in your ear canal one day…
My audiologist told me that if a dome ever gets stuck in my ear, I should come to her office rather than going to a doctor or urgent care. Medical people will make a big deal out of the situation, while someone at her office will just pull the dome out.
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My wife has gotten pretty good at it.
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I’ve never done that. I put mine in a little dryer that has an ultraviolet light.
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[quote=“6934ca706e439a3ddaa2, post:8, topic:40271, full:true”]
OMG. I had no idea I was supposed to remove domes and wipe them down with alcohol each night. …[/quote]
I think it’s important to wipe the domes off each night. It gets rid of wax. I don’t really see a benefit of the alcohol. Yes it’s a tad cleaner, but a lot more bother and expense.
Also, I wouldn’t remove the domes per se. Just wipe them down well each night. My HAs came with a little cloth for doing this (every once in a while, I wash it in soap and water to get rid of built up wax). When the domes start to come off as I’m wiping, I know it’s time to replace domes. Generally, a pair of domes last about six weeks to two months. Given that a pair of domes cost only ~$2, we’re talking something like $1 to $1.50 for domes each month.
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