It’s considered a RIC (receiver in the the canal) although technically it’s ALSO a behind the ear devices. But I’m talking about a slightly more traditional BTE device that connects via a tube to an earmold rather than via a wire to a speaker block (which is also sometimes housed in an earmold). For some people the speaker (receiver) block itself just cannot fit in the the ear comfortably. Some manufacturers have slightly smaller/shorter speakers than others. Or if you’re currently in an 85 you could try a 60. But sometimes it’s just an anatomical limit and to avoid having an earmold that fits really awkwardly you need to get that speaker out of the ear.
In any case, your clinician should be able to take a look and give a solution, but don’t settle for discomfort. You need to be able to wear it 8+ hours a day every day.
You might consider an Urgent Care clinic visit so that a doctor can look into your ears with an otoscope. If you have a red spot or general redness in your ear canal, or a scrape or anything in the sore ear, it’s best to know about it before continuing to wear a hearing aid in the sore side. I suppose it might be okay to wear an aid in the not-sore side, so as to have some improvement meanwhile. Your hearing aid for the left ear might have been pressing into your ear canal due to awkward fit. Sometimes, I have to reposition my right hearing aid because that canal is smaller.
Oh goodness, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’ll see what I can do this week! I had maybe one day where my ear felt fine (probably the day I actually got the hearing aids) but after that it’s been pretty rough. Hopefully I’m not the cause, by putting them in wrong. I’ll look into this! Thank you Attila!
It’s easy to get them askew just a little. With a small ear canal, it’s harder for them to re-align as you continue to insert them. I use retention “tails” to reduce the tendency for my receivers to back out of my ears, but also to have something safe to pull my receivers out with. If my aid is a bit pokey or too deep in my right ear, I just pull it a bit with the retention tail to adjust it.
In most instances, when new HAs are acquired, there’s a trail period where they can be returned. Keep it in mind in the event they cannot be made to be comfortable.
Check to make certain the lines that run from the aid to the speaker are long enough. Sometimes with deep set speakers the line can tug and cause pain. Try pushing the Sid’s farther toward in your ear as a simple test. Or use this guide
Thats what happens when your ears are sealed off and cant “breath” as well as normal. Kinda like inserting your fingers in your ears and talking. Your own voice sounds nasally and you may have feeling like your ears are plugged. With proper venting in the custom mold it can be alleviated but the more extreme your loss, the smaller venting you will need to stop the sounds escaping/leaking out
Ohhh I see! I am definitely experiencing occlusion. Sometimes it sounds like my voice is coming from a tin can. How ‘natural’ is audio supposed to be when you have hearing aids?
My audiologist also started me off at lower than prescription, and for the first few days it was great, but now I feel like all the background sounds are amplified when it’s voices that I need amplified instead.
The leaking out @Jinxed mentioned is what commonly causes feedback, the whistling as some call it. That’s sound escaping past the mold/dome from the inner ear and getting picked up by the HA microphones.
How natural is audio suppose to be? Ideally the closer to it the better. An audi would hopefully work with you and make programming adjustments where needed.
It not unusual to have some degree of occlusion, apparently you get use to it and notice it less as time goes by. It nevertheless is weird at first and somewhat disconcerting.
Yes. And my loss in my bad ear bad enough that I feel some occlusion even with no aid so very used to that feeling. But with occlusion caused by my molds, its the sound of my own voice that I haven’t gotten used to.
And “leakage” in my case didnt just produce some feedback, it was the amplified sounds leaking past the domes which others could hear, unbeknownst to me until my daughter mentioned it. Because of the high loss of my hearing and the gains put out by the aids, others were actually hearing my aids which they explained as sounding like a slight echo to sounds they were hearing naturally. But now i use silicon skeleton type molds, zero vent in my bad ear, and 1.5mm vent in better ear and am happy, except for the way my own voice sounds and hoping some day i get used to it.
Hmmm. “Worst case scenario” describes custom molds? I guess those of us who use them would say it is the “best case scenario”. I tried domes and for 3 months I had an ear infection. Did not realize that for my particular situation I should only wear custom molds. This may be a similar instance, and also not “worst case scenario” in my book. With that much pain anything would probably be better. Just my humble opinion.