#1

I am doing pretty well with my Starkey RIC aids. I want to buy a second pair of ITE aids as a backup and for doing sports. My audio advises against ITEs because of occlusion and recommends to stay with RICs or BTEs. Anyone have experience with ITEs and occlusion problems. Thanks. Steve

#2

I wore ITE’s for quite a few years. I DO NOT recommend them. The occlusion is awful. If your loss is as bad as mine is now, they are better than nothing. Doesn’t your audi offer loaners?

#3

not sure you would love the ITE style since your hearing is good thru 2K but maybe if they can step back the canal and keep the vent wide open it would be a possibility.

#4

Try this: Plug your ears with your fingers and speak at the same time. Notice what it does to your own voice? Imagine that with amplification. If you think it isn’t too bad and you can deal with it, by all means, try a set of ITE hearing aids. Realistically with appropriate venting, it shouldn’t be as drastic as the finger in ear test, but you will at least have some working knowledge of what they are talking about.

#5

Good description, that is exactly how it sounded with my CIC hearing aids. Open fit RIC is so much more comfortable.

#6

I chose the CIC style because I have a pretty active lifestyle and I didn’t want to be taking the hearing aids off all the time. I can just put them in in the morning and forget about them. I can put on a snowmobile helmet and go for example. The sound of them is great and it didn’t take long to get used to the feeling of something in my ear and the sound of my voice. Maybe when I am older and more sedentary I will give the RIC style a shot.

#7

I have worn ITE for 20 years and I have no problems and I don’t really know what occlusion is. I have also tried RITE (RIC) and I did not notice any improvement so I will stick with ITE because of the comfort. Open fit RITE might be much better than ITE for your hearing loss. But ITE is much better for sports of course.

#8

Arni, Thanks for the encouragement. As you can see, some members had much worse experiences, but I am eager to give ITEs a try as a backup set. Hopefully, they can make the vent large enough to avoid occlusion. I think it would be great to bike or run without worrying about my HAs flopping around. I assume that the ITEs fit snugly into the concha.

#9

But ITE aids break down more quickly due to moisture and being in the ear so running and biking would been sending them into repair all the time.

I’ve worn BTE aids for 20 years and never had one flop around on me. You just need to get the correct tubing length etc. I climb and mountain bike myself.