I’ve recently been struggling finding a good mold after my old audi retired, and trying several new ones. It’s exhausting and frustrating. I’m profound loss, with silicone full occluded molds and I realized that I’ve never really talked to others about their experiences with BTE aids and molds. So lets hear it! What’s been your experiences, tips and tricks, hacks, etc! What do you do to make em last long and what have you learned!
Here’s mine, lets hear yours! Please!
-hooks: In my experience the threads tend to strip more than you think and cause feedback, depends on how active/rough you are. If they swivel pretty easily its definitely time for new ones. I always ask very nicely from the audi if I can get 10 or even 20 brand new hooks when purchasing a new aid. Usually they don’t mind or may charge a small additional fee less than the cost of 1 visit. Its almost impossible to find these online.
-hooks: Damped hooks may sound slightly better, but IMO are never worth it. You can almost get the same effect if not better in the software with a good, patient audi, and for me without fail, the damped material will get moisture saturated and plug up. Sometimes I could foul a damped hook in one long hike and it seems like even drying one for weeks it never sounded right again, like it changed pitch and needed another tuning. I say NO to damped hooks. Straight pipe that B.
-hooks: Generally there’s 2 sizes. Request both be present for the trial period of new aids. Sometimes the child size on a adult aid just fits right, sometimes you want the large, just try both.
-tubes: Tubes suck. I’ve tried all sorts of cheap ways around it and really you just need to bulk order and move on. They all dry and get hard, shrivel and start feedback issues. Skip the audi and amazon, find a online pro retailer and buy a box of 50+ high quality tubes, double thick #13, NO lock. So much better and easier to do at home and feels so nice to swap tubes before a big trip or job or date or just to have a set of tubes around for any reason.
-tubes: Locks suck. In my experience they are great when you first get the mold, but then as the mold ages and starts to get brittle the lock will eventually tear out the back of the mold and force a visit back to the audi. My molds last SO long ever since I just swapped to no lock. I find that once the tube slips out too easily its a great dummy indicator that its time to change your tube as well because it has dried and shrived. These days I use the mold new with the lock and as soon as it needs replacing or even before, the 2nd tube in the mold is no lock.
-molds: Maybe I’m lacking here, but I’ve almost 100% exclusively used canal only molds. I’m currently struggling finding an audi that understands that when I tell them the mold fits too loose and thats why the amplification is getting clipped in the software and its just a bad wearing experience that’s easy to feedback. They usually suggest some larger molds like the skeleton or full shell but I feel like they use it as a crutch. Because of my level of amplification I first need a snug, snug canal mold. These days with the 3d scan they can add the skeleton or whatever to the good canal if I want but when I have a good canal I get minimal feedback, full power amplification, features work better and since its snug there’s no issues doing extreme dry sports with them in. Never fly off, only when they’re too loose which also leads to poor aid performance.
Lets hear your opinions, experiences and what works for you and why!
