Pain when wearing hearing aid

Hearing Aids
#1

Has anyone experienced pain when wearing their hearing aids? Got my first pair of HAs in January and adapted very easily and enjoyed being able to hear better. I have Rexton Trax 42 with open domes.

In the last two weeks the right ear has started to hurt when wearing the HA. I stopped wearing the one hearing aid for about 4 days and the ear pain stopped.
The pain is not an ear ache pain.

Today I wore both aids for about 5 hours and the pain is back in the same ear.

Is there such a thing as your body rejecting a HA?

There is no abnormal wax or anything else with this ear. Thoughts / advise …?

Farmboy

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#2

I’m even newer to hearing aids than you are, just under two months but I also have open domes. Mine are so comfortable that I don’t notice them at all. That said I’ve worn earplugs at work for a very long time. Some of the materials have become so irritating I can no longer use them without my ears hurting. Perhaps the domes are to big/small or need to be a different material?

#3

Where exactly is the pain? In the canal? Behind the ear?

#4

What dome are you using and what’s you low level loss? Shouldn’t be a “rejection” issue but nerve sensitivity does happen for a variety of reasons. I think talking to your fitter and them using the otoscope to verify you don’t have an inflammation/fungus/etc. is a good place to start. It may be a hypersensitivity that a different size/model dome or custom mold can solve.

I actually use two sizes of domes because of a similar problem. You might try cutting through the dome with scissors in one or two places. That lessens the pressure against the ear.

#5

Thanks Seb and KenP,

  1. The pain is like a sensitivity pain and is right around the dome and lingers for a few days after wearing the HA.

  2. In reply to KenP, I have taken a scissors and gently sniped away at the dome and over a few days reduced it dramatically with no relief.

Thanks for all your input so far.

Farmboy

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#6

You might try a drop or two of olive oil on the sides of the dome. Olive oil will moisten dry skin and is a mild antiseptic. Maybe there is drying to the canal that exacerbates the discomfort. Alternatively, there are commercial products like Eargene and ProEar that address itchy, irritated ears.

#7

Thanks for the suggestions KenP!

Farmboy

#8

I have small ear cannels and couldn’t were my hearing aids for more than a couple hours a day without experiencing pain. I finally had custom ear molds made and now can wear them all day and hardly know they’re there.

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#9

Should not be pain. The domes themselves are hypoallergenic so that should not be a problem. May be that your domes are too big for your ear. Considering you wore these domes from January to recently without any problem, something has changed. It could very well be an infection. New, clean domes would be a great place to start. Olive oil is a BAD idea. Certain infections will LIKE the oil and the moisture. One would be better to have someone put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in your ears. Though the ideal solution is see your Dr. and get him to look in your ear. If there’s an inflammation of the canal or ear drum, he/she will see it pretty quickly and can prescribe the appropriate antibiotic, if required.

You’re not complaining of fever or chronic pain in the ear that is getting worse, so if it is an infection it is very low grade. I would agree and think new domes or custom molds are in order. I would recommend custom molds. They are extremely comfortable to wear and there is little or no chance of pressure points in your canal.

GL

Evil

#10

I can wear my aids most of the time without knowing they are there. Every once in a while I get a mild pain and have to remove them for a little while. But at least once a day I get a unendurable itching, and absolutely must remove them. I get psoriasis in the outer ear near the canal, so I think the itching and perhaps the pain is due to psoriasis inside the ear canal.

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#11

Have you tried something like Eargene ear lotion?

#12

No. I looked it up and it seems like it might work. I wear tulip domes which I have to continually poke back in. I’m wondering if Eargene will be too much of a lubricant that will allow them to pop out even more easily. Thanks, I will give it a try.

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#13

Sorry about the pain… As far as the domes sliding back out, I found the Oticon Grip Tips to be so helpful! I order them online for my different brands of hearing aids and when I showed them to my audiologist, she has been ordering them for her many clients that can’t tolerate ear molds and/or regular domes. She also told my new Costco audiologist all about them as well, as they are good friends. haha I have very small ear canals and I order the small grip tips with a large vent. So helpful! The only place I have been able to find them is TVA Hearing, online. Good luck! I am super excited to pick up my new Rexton Trex 42s on Monday!

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#14

A few months ago my audiologist gave me a pair of tips that worked very well. As you suggested, I looked up Oticon Grip Tips online and found that was exactly what she gave me. The problem is that in less than a week, both tips split along a seam and opened up and hurt my ears. Of course the receiver became loose too. She gave me 4 more. The seams started splitting on those too. I read reviews of others having the same problem. I tried filing the hole larger to reduce the pressure when the receiver was inserted into the tight hole, but you can’t file plastic that soft. She told me to freeze them first with dry ice. I have yet to do that.

What she gave me were the vented Grip Tips. There is a very thin edge on the side of the hole where the vent is, and that is where the split occurs. I notice that Oticon also carries unvented grip tips. That would be perfect for me because when I used the vented ones, I found I could hear much better when I plugged up the vent with glue anyway. The unvented tips don’t have a thin edge that could easily split open.

I will try the unvented Grip Tips. Thanks for your advise. I have been struggling with this problem for years.

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#15

OH great!! I hope the unvented ones do the trick!!

#16

Get custom molds and be done with it.

#17

I second Doc Jake’s recommendation. Of course, I have no choice. For me, custom molds are the only solution.

In the past, I have always felt the need for at least some venting. But I would notice that I hear better when I plug them up. I’d hear better, but I was bothered by the occlusion.

Then about a month ago, I plugged them up and just learned to live with the occlusion. After a couple of days, I got used to it. Doesn’t bother me a bit. I hear better, and I get real good bass when streaming music.

#18

Custom molds are a good idea. I will consider that if, for some reason, the unvented Grip Tips don’t work. The vented Grip Tips were a real improvement in fit until the seams split open. Since I discovered that I could understand voice better with a plugged vent, I would plug up my tulip dome with a finger in my ear if there was something I really wanted to hear. That gives people the wrong impression and looks a bit screwy if I do that in public.

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