No Domes

Are there any risks to your hearing if you don’t wear a dome and just put the receiver in your ear? I have small ear canals and even small domes give me occlusion. The Costco dispenser just told me to not wear the domes since these are the smallest size.

I assume you’re talking about open domes (as opposed to tulips, or power domes, or … well, there are lots of names for domes)?

Yes I normally wear open domes. But since my ear canals are somewhat small the small size still gives me the occlusion effect.

Maybe one of the dispensers here can answer; depending on brand, I’ve heard of domes down to 4mm, and those tend to work even for small children. Not questioning your knowledge/judgment, but are you sure it’s an occlusion effect (I’ve had my voice sound kind of occluded/boomy with open’ish domes due to the fitting parameters)? I use 8mm’s, but even with 10mm’s, I don’t get an occlusion effect (except with power domes).

Hard to imagine any danger from no domes; they’d just tend to fall out (more than with domes), and could be uncomfortable. I wonder if there are molds that would solve your problem…

— Updated —

Also, might help with answers if you had your audiogram in your signature; just a thought. Good luck!

Oh; if that’s your audiogram above (reverse slope), you’re in a tough situation, because it’s harder to boost the lower frequencies without an occlusive dome or some other kind of solution (implants, for example). Again, an audiologist would know a lot more…

Yeah. I’m aware of my reverse slope hearing loss. Hard to fit, but the actual fitting that works is when it is non-occlusive which I know is counterintuitive. We reverse slopers actually need an open fitting with only minor boosting of the low frequencies and actually boosting of the middle and highs where we appear to have normal hearing.

I can see about getting the children’s size if that’s a possibility. Mine are currently size 5mm which is the smallest adult size I have encountered.

JustinHIS wears his Oticon OPN with no domes, see his signature.

He should know if that´s ok, shouldn´t he?

You could try a custom mold with a vent if you don’t get a satisfactory result with domes or the no dome option.

You can try making slits with a sharp scissor in them. That reduces pressure and size constraints.

No problems in principle but you’ll use more wax-traps if there’s nothing in front of the receiver.

I’d be tempted to get an open dome and cut the umbrella off using side-edge cutters so that you still has the core on the receiver tip - just to reduce the risk of scratching your ear canal. Obviously get the fitting appropriately set-up to accommodate the dome.

Just in terms of the actual prescription, your small canal is actually making a mockery of the ‘claimed’ on-screen prescription. If they hooked you up to a REM, the lack of venting and small residual canal volume would likely give a very different looking fitting. This is type of fitting that will unwind an inexperienced audiologist.