Oticon dome becomes lodged in ear canal

Hearing Aids
#21

Thanks, Jim

Unfortunately, we don’t have a Costco around here (the price of living in almost paradise).

I did find them here for slightly less than $0.21/each here-> Amazon

That makes it $38 per year vs $120 for the rechargeables if I want them to last almost all day

I’ve compared Zenipower in my old H-Aids with Duracell and Ray-o-vac and they last just as long.

I bought the rechargeable batteries to keep from trashing the environment. But at the cost of the rechargeable cells with a life span of 6 months to hold a full charge, it’s just not affordable for me.

My rechargeable AA and AAA cells for flashlights and other items can take many more recharging than these.

When new, the Otican cells lasted about 12-14 hours (I’m awake at least 16), now it’s closer to 10 unless I recharge them for an hour mid-day.

So breaking the seal and putting in a disposable cell for the last couple of hours is not doing the environment much good either.

I understand Oticon is fixing that problem with their newest hearing aids, but not fixing their old products. That is not good customer service. Especially since they knew the old was defective from the start (so says my audiologist who says they had problems with them from day one).

So what brand is better for next time?

I am not eager to get another pair of Oticons.

Bob

#22

A rechargeable battery looks cleaner than a disposable one at your end. However, if you compare them battery’s life cycle, the benefits of rechargeables are not that clear.

Please, read:

Which battery is better: Rechargeable or disposable?

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#23

Good one, @BobbyBoomer! Funny, but probably true!

#24

On the discussion of rechargeable, I think the OP may have the rechargeable batteries that are replaceable by the user. Mine are not user-serviceable. I wear the units about 14-15 hours a day without any battery issues. I was told by the audiologist that the lifespan is about 3 years, but to bring the units in before the warranty expires, send them off and get replacement batteries stuck in by the factory.

I chose this type because I had an incident where I landed in Poland for work on a Saturday morning, could not find batteries in my gear and found you could only buy the at audiologists offices. I was frantically messaging colleagues who were traveling in to try to find some 312 batteries at an airport drug store or grab them on the way to the airport. I finally found two batteries buried somewhere in one of my travel bags and managed to survive. I don’t want to be in that position again. On the flip side, I have now retired and aren’t traveling as much … but I tend to like to learn lessons from prior experience. Now, if I could just remember to pack the charger! At least you can use a travel battery to put juice to the hearing aids with a cable with a USB on one end and a mini plug on the other if you’re somewhere without power (safari, incompatible power plugs, no adapter, etc.)

#25

How about $100 for custom “molds”?

#26

I recharge batteries until they become a problem. Our electricity is generated by a nuke plant, so at least we aren’t emitting greenhouse gasses. When they no longer hold a charge, there is a place in town to recycle.

The Oticon batteries were a problem from the start. The capacity wasn’t enough to use them for 16 hours, even though the sales pitch was ‘wear them all day, charge them all night’.

Now, a little more than a year later, they have degraded to about 10 hours if I do not use the Bluetooth, less if I do.

Poor engineering, poor design, and they knew it.

Now they have ‘fixed’ the problem, but are not offering the solution to existing customers. Abysmal customer support.

They don’t answer all their e-mails, and when they do, give indirect non-answers to your concerns.

The hearing aids cost over $6K, I deserve better than this for that price. I doubt they cost more than $100 to manufacture.

Bob

#27

I had OPN1 rechargeables for over a year and the batteries never lasted for an entire day. It got to where I just started using regular batteries. About 2 months ago my audi got Oticon to give me a free replacement pair of the new OPN S1 rechargeables. The new HAs are excellent. Oticon has changed the battery and the charger. They recognize there was a problem with the old system. Have your Audi talk with an Oticon rep and see if they will replace them.

2 Likes
#28

Thanks. I have an appointment next week, so I’ll ask her about it.

Bob

#29

The video one (or digital optic as you put it) can also be used to monitor your ears for wax. One of the audiologists I’ve seen with my Mom said the ones they have in their office cost about $400 but she has a cheap one at home to use with her kids.

I too have had a dome come off in my ear when I was experimenting with another manufacturer’s dome. My wife managed to get it out without difficulty using tweezers.

#30

Back to domes. One thing I was told not to do is removing the dome regularly for cleaning. They loosen up and then can come off easy. Everyone probably knows this but I think I have read where some do this with their domes.

1 Like
#31

Yes, IMHO lackluster engineering - profits first instead of people first.

I had ReSounds for years and never lost anything in my ear. And they were only $4,000

Bob

#32

I’ve worn Oticon aids for almost five years, and I never had an issue with my domes until a few months ago. I had changed my domes in the morning and later that day was having pain in my left ear. Pulled it out to find no dome. Because I’d had them off that morning, I assumed that I’d forgotten to put one on. So I put on a dome and kept going. Off and on for the next four weeks or so I had ear pain, and I had issues with water trapped in my ear after swimming. In the end I was having hearing issues in that ear and was convinced I had an ear infection, so I decided to go to my ENT. She pulled out a dome that had been in my ear for over a month.

I’m not sure what happened with this dome, but it’s the first time I ever had an issue. I have my domes off frequently to clean and I change them fairly infrequently. YMMV.

#33

Interesting post. Almost funny. Thanks for sharing.

It goes to show there is no reason to get freaked out about getting the dome out if it should come off. A person can take their time getting it out.

#34

The dome was completely encapsulated in ear wax. I am sure if I had not been putting an aid in my ear every day and smashing it against my ear drum it would have quickly been moved out of the canal.

About 25 years ago, long before I was wearing aids, I had similar symptoms for about a week and couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Finally I was able to get ahold of what I thought was a chunk of wax with my fingernail and pull it out of my ear — to find that it was actually a lady bug completely encased in wax. It must’ve climbed into my ear at night and become stuck. My ear had done a marvelous job of isolating it and ultimately moving it out.

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#35

Except that if the dome is a closed dome type, you are essentially deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other.

I still think Oticon should have thought of this when they designed their hearing aids.

#36

I’ve got to think it’s something unique to either your usage or the shape or you ear canal, since this does not seem to be a common complaint at all.

Note: if I ever have this issue again, I’ll see my audiologist. My ENT charged $350+ for a “foreign body extraction.”

1 Like
#37

Since others have expressed the domes getting stuck in their ear, but not quite as frequently as mine, I still say it’s a design defect. My longer than usual ear canal may have something to do with it, but for >$6K hearing aids, the domes should never-ever come of in anybody’s ear. That’s just cheap %$!@(* engineering.

If my wife can’t get the dome out, I’ll probably go to the emergency room again. ENT wants at least $100, audiologist needs an appointment and her assistant won’t do it, the emergency room is free to me, medicare pays.

Now I don’t want to run up medicare bills, but on the other hand, it’s the only way for me to get out at low or no cost to me.

As you can tell, I’m very peeved at Oticon. The hearing aids work well, but they cut way too many corners.

I was in the electronics engineering business for a while, there is probably $100-$200 cost in making this >$6K hearing aid. R&D costs are indeed a factor, but thats a lot of R&D if you ask me, especially when multiplied by thousands of users.

The least the could have done is (1) make the domes secure and (2) make the rechargeable batteries last all day.

Bob

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#38

@BobbyBoomer Considering the expenses you’ve incurred with lost domes, it would seem reasonable to spring for molds. The molds I have snap over the outside ends of the receivers a bit (the ends the wires run into) and without a good firm tug on the wires, it’s “impossible” to have the receivers some out of the molds (I worry about stressing out the receiver wires/connection each month when I change out my wax guards by removing the receivers from the molds). Besides the fact that I find molds very comfortable and improve my sound perception quality, my receiver openings are effectively protected against wax, too. With domes, I was always dealing with wax getting onto the receiver/wax guard mesh whereas the receiver openings are so positioned in my molds, towards the top of my ear canal oval 0, that I hardly ever find any wax in the mold receiver opening and the wax never makes it as far as the receiver wax guard. Since different companies make the molds depending on the HA brand, molds for you could be different than mine but even if you paid $100 a mold, that would be cheap compared to what you’ve paid so far for dome removal.

#39

You haven’t shared your audiogram. It would help us understand your hearing aid and your dome/mold needs.

#40

If you were really in electronics engineering, then you should be aware of the physical factors limiting the energy density and voltages of batteries. There are many factors limiting the type of battery that can be used, including current demand, minimum voltage, etc. The Opn requires a minimum voltage of about 1.4v, which is more than a Li-ion battery can provide, meaning that the highest energy-density rechargeable battery tech that can power an Opn is AgZn (silver-zinc), which can provide up to 1.55v (compared to Li-ion’s 1.2v). The theoretical maximum energy density of silver-zinc is about 500 Wh/L.

So how does this compare to the Zn-air primary batteries most of us use? Well, I’ve seen varying figures for the theoretical maximum density, ranging from ~1500 Wh/L up to almost 10000 Wh/L. The most common figure I’ve seen is about 2500 Wh/L. That’s about 5 times the best that is possible with the best rechargeable battery tech that we know of.

So what does this mean? It means that the z-Power AgZn battery has a total capacity of about 32 mAh. Those are considered about the best rechargeable batteries out there. Compare that to PowerOne Zn-air primary batteries with a capacity of about 170 mAh. That’s (surprise surprise) just about 5 times the capacity of the z-Power. Why? Simply because of the physical properties of the battery tech.

It’s easy for you to say, “The least they could do is … make the rechargeable batteries last all day.” But it’s another thing entirely to actually make such a battery. There are tens of thousands of people around the world working tirelessly to improve battery performance – companies and scientists who specialize in battery technology and have spent decades billions of dollars developing new technologies. And the best that they have yet been able to achieve in a rechargeable 312-size battery is about 30 mAh. You really think Oticon can just wave its magic wand and make one appear?

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