I get a lot of noise when I open and close my jaw. The audi said that it’s the jaw bone that I’m hearing and I just have to get used to it.
I find it pretty loud and it’s one of the things that I do find annoying.
I can’t help thinking that I may be the domes moving in my ear that I can hear. I have small tulip shaped domes and I know that they don’t fit that well because I get a bit of feedback if I put my hands over my ear. I tried the next size but they were too big. I did ask for open domes but she said that they wouldn’t suit my hearing.
Is this noise something I will have to live with? Does everyone get this noise?
I get the noise especially when eating and chewing food. It makes it difficult to eat and listen to conversation at the same time. One simple test you can do to narrow the potential cause a little is to leave your hearing aids in but mute them. Or pull the battery door so they don’t work, but the fitting is still in your ear. If I do that I hear exactly the same noise when chewing. In other words it is not being produced by the hearing aid speaker. I believe in my case it is real noise caused by my molds (moulds) wiggling around in the ear canal. I have had the molds remade 3 times and the problem remains. I do not recall having it when I was using off the shelf click sleeves, both open and closed. It came with the molds.
My theory is that at least in my case (and potentially yours too based on your audiogram) that we have pretty good low frequency hearing and can hear the real noise that the fitting makes. It makes me suspect that if one had poor low frequency hearing (which may fit the profile of more custom mold users) one would not hear and be bothered by this noise.
About all I can say for some hope is that the Signia/Rexton click sleeves were not as bad as molds. On that basis I really cannot recommend customs molds as a potential solution.
Thanks for your reply Sierra. I tried them switched off and the noise is still there.
I did suggest I tried open domes but the audi said that wouldn’t suit. This sounds a bit odd as I have good low frequency.
I think I may have shared this with you before, but your loss in hearing in the 3 kHz range makes you susceptible to feedback (like I am). Open fittings are bad when there is feedback potential (high gain at 3 kHz). Here is what your first fit curves look like with open fittings. The red shaded area is feedback potential in your right ear, and the blue shaded area is potential feedback in your left. This is improved with a closed fitting, and would be potentially improved even more with a custom mold and vent. BUT, if your experience is like mine, it could make the noise from chewing worse! In the Rexton/Signia world you might do well with a closed sleeve type fitting. If you have another brand, they may have alternative off the shelf fittings which may fit your better.
The jaw movement noise comes from irregular cartilage in the TM (tempero-mandibular) joint. It is a bone-conducted noise AFAIK. Not much you can do about it, in my experience. Go to a good dentist or oral surgeon who treats TM joint issues. They may be able to give you a nightguard or other therapies that can reduce inflammation in the TM joint and/or reposition your jaw so the joint operates more efficiently and that “may” decrease the noise.
I had terrible TM joint pain and soreness in my 20’s and 30’s. Haven’t noticed any for quite a while now. While I was having trouble I would get creaking sounds from the jaw movement. It eventually went away with the pain. I was treated with anti-inflammatories and nightguards (bite splints).
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Yeah I get the exact same issue. I use Signia Silk NX CICs though. I normally use medium open vent click sleeves. Connexx click sleeves. And I hear minimal jaw clicking on this sleeves now. I tried small vented sleeves a while back. This meant the HA sat a few millimetres further in the canal which I wanted. It also meant the HA sat right against the bone in that position. I heard constant clicking sounds mainly in one ear when I moved my jaw side to side or open. I found a medium sleeve was a lot better because it meant the HA did not sit exactly where the bone is so there was no resonating of sound. It sat slightly more out of the canal as it was bigger. I have no answer for you but I wonder if you could try putting the dome further in or out if the canal so see if that helps so the dome is not sitting in the canal at the jaw bone point. I am not even sure if that is possible.
If I pull then out slightly the noise is reduced but it’s a bit of a fiddle to get it right.
I have the next size up but they don’t make any difference. It’s not a clicking noise I hear it’s more like someone sawing wood!
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I told my fitter that it sounded like someone pulling Velcro apart.
For me it is almost a small slap or click.
I have that at times too, but attribute it to the feedback suppression detecting something and acting almost but not quite instantly.
I suspected this possibility (feedback suppression) too and wondered if closed vents might help. Because I had a bit of feedback in the tuning around the time of the sleeve changeover. Problem is every time I want to try different click sleeves I need to get my HAs retuned as the CICs are so sensitive to vents and no vents etc. my Aud said he needed to adjust the gain if I change sleeves sizes of vent options.
I believe your audi is correct. The vent size has a significant effect on the output of the speaker in your ear canal, especially in the lower frequencies. The First Fit should be run again, as well as the REM test and adjustment.
Hey I just thought of something. When I was experimenting with earmolds a few years ago, I discovered the fact that jaw movements really moved the ear canal a lot. Maybe the “velcro” noise with jaw movement is your dome or earmold sliding on rough skin or hair follicles in your ear canal.
I have silicone molds and I have the feeling it is the molds sticking and unsticking to the ear canal.The click sleeves were silicone too, but they are rather light cup shaped devices that don’t fit nearly as tight in the ear canal. There seems little doubt that at least in my case it is an ear canal fit issue and is aggravated by having good uncorrected hearing at lower frequencies.
I have noticed if I wet the domes they don’t sound as loud so you may well be right.
I have got RIC Phonak so I don’t know if there are click sleeves that fit them.