The 16-4 rule sounds good. Mold depth would seem to be very important. Not only for a proper seal but to hold the mold steady.
I should be getting my earmolds any day now. Lloyd’s did mention having them made extra long for greater depth.
Good luck with your new molds.
Let me know how you make out with the molds…
Will do.
Lloyd’s called yesterday to verify the power slim tube length, said the molds look good. The molds will be mailed today so should be here later this week.
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The new molds came in today.
They look great.
Initial fit is tight. I hope not too tight.
The sound from the Naida V90 aids is very impressive. Very full and natural. Absolutely zero feedback but really never had feedback issues with Phonak aids before.
Now it’s time to start taking notes and getting some word recognition back.
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Did they do the REM testing and adjustment again? It may be possible to push the correction a little harder with the improved acoustic isolation. That is what I am hoping for…
There is no they at this time. I will give this a few days before getting anxious about REM.
Lots of sound to get used to.
The molds are night and day different than any domes I have used.
I don’t use audiologist.
OK, I understand now…
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Have worn the new molds for 6 hours now, no pain.
There are new ear sounds while chewing and walking.
Also hearing new low frequency sounds. Like engines rumbling. That I like a lot!
Well, I am still waiting for the custom molds from Costco, but I did upgrade my Connexx 8 software to Connexx 9, and it seems to provide some enhanced functionality with respect to predicting feedback problems. To date I have tried vented click sleeves, closed click sleeves, and now have select a vent custom molds on order. Here is what the new software indicates for feedback potential (red and blue shaded areas).
Open Click Sleeves - The gain curves run smack into the feedback zone for my left ear and not on my right. This is pretty much exactly what I experienced.
Closed Click Sleeves - Improved, but left ear soft sounds still run into the feedback zone for the left ear, and the normal sounds are on the borderline. Again what I experienced.
Custom Molds - The prediction looks pretty good, but the proof will be in the pudding. However it would appear that feedback should be taken out of the picture. I sure wish this software had been available when I was making my decisions earlier. If I had seen these graphs I would have went for the custom molds right from day one. To be fair the fitter at Costco warned me that I would likely need a custom mold for my left ear, but I didn’t believe her. Hopefully she was right all along and this will be the silver bullet cure for my feedback issues. The computer seems to like it, but will I?
I am getting used to my new molds. They are pretty tight and caused some pain at first. Maybe my ear canals are stretching but the molds are getting much more comfortable.
I noticed some occlusion early on. The software has occlusion control that I adjusted up some and now occlusion isn’t an issue.
The range of sound in all my hearable frequencies has vastly improved. Music is actually pretty good again. I have the Compilot2 which is absolutely fantastic for TV and phone calls. I can now understand YouTube videos.
Feedback has never really been an issue with the Phonak aids I have used. I hope your new molds fix you up.
Well, I got my new molds today, and I would love to say they are perfect, but unfortunately they are not. There was some kind of mix up on the right mold and instead of a 2.5 mm SAV it came completely sealed. That is the bad news. The good news is that it fits really good. It does not move around even when eating. I have not had feedback with the right ear, and with a sealed mold, of course I still do not. It is kind of occluding though. They are going to remake it with the proper vent. Hopefully the fit on the replacement is as good as this one.
The left ear is pretty much all bad news. The vent came as ordered, and when she did the critical gain test, it predicted feedback, and sure enough I had some. She reduced the vent size and I went home with it. However, I am still getting some feedback, and the worst part is that the mold moves around in my ear all the time and especially when I am eating. It sounds like it is sticking and unsticking to my ear canal and makes noises each time it sticks and unsticks. The right one is totally silent. I am assuming this is not normal? And it is not being created simply from the higher gain in the left ear?
My thoughts are to request a new one that fits tighter and deeper or both? Comments?
Have you noticed a difference in sound quality?
I would think the good fitting right ear mold that’s missing the vent could easily have one drilled into it. The left mold sounds like it’s loose causing the feedback.
The sticking and unsticking sound happens to me sometimes. Not all the time. Chewing and walking cause it. You might try a tiny bit of Vaseline and see what that does.
Hang in there.
Your comfort experience with your right ear is pretty much my experience with both ears. I don’t have any sensation in eating, yawning, or whatever (except maybe a little “eek” on pressure equalization of whatever since I chose to wear completely occlusive molds). The only thing that I notice is a change in the perception of the sound of my voice but I don’t mind it for the benefit of noise control that I get in return.
Hope if you have a money-back, satisfaction guarantee that your provider can fix you up so that both molds fit and work as well as your right and are properly vented for your prescription. The only time I get feedback is on inserting and removing my molds if the HA’s are on and the receiver opening comes close to my ear lobe skin before inserting into my ear canal. Guess any receiver sound then gets reflected off my lobe skin surface, picked up by mics, and briefly get amplified into a high-pitched squeal. If I can remember, I try to turn volume of HA’s off for insertion or removal - wonder if such feedback is detrimental to receivers over long term?
They are making a new mold for my right ear with the proper vent. If it fits as well as the non vented one, I think I am done there. But that said it was quite OK with even a stock vented or unvented sleeve.
The left which has been my problem ear, is the big concern. The right one gives me some hope they can remake it and get it to fit better. I plan to ask if making it bigger or fit deeper is an option. Not worried about the cost. She told me up front that they would redo it as many times as necessary and give me my money back if all attempts fail. But, I just want to get it fixed and be done with this fitting and re-fitting stuff. It was fun for a while, but now is getting a bit aggravating. I’m starting to understand how people get to the point of just putting these things into a drawer…
She obviously increased the gain in my left ear to take advantage of the reduced feedback potential. So for sure there is a difference. Everything sounds sharper. When I am outside walking down the street, the road noise from vehicles and wind in the trees seems significantly increased. Hard to say at this point if I could call it an improvement.
Yes, I think what seems like a loose fit on the left may be allowing some feedback. Interestingly if I keep my mouth open everything sounds kind of OK. When I hold my teeth together, sounds change and the refrigerator noise from a fair distance away becomes more audible. Not sure why, but it seems to have to do with the position of the mold. More leakage, or less, I don’t know.
The noise I hear in my left ear when I open and close my mouth kind of sounds like Velcro being pulled apart. It is strangely about the same level whether or not I have the hearing aids muted. So, it seems like noise that I am “hearing” is without any amplification from the aids.
Depending on your preferences (and your hearing spectrum), you can shut down unpleasant noises pretty well if your molds are fairly occlusive. With decent low-frequency hearing, the proximity of my ears to our stove exhaust fan was always an annoyance. With my molds and turning up noise control to the max while cooking, I can make the fan sound much less annoying - and if there is no speech, automatic noise control will kick in because of the loud fan noise and do almost as good a job even if I don’t anticipate the noise by making a smartphone app adjustment in advance.
I can get the same sound but only when I get to an extreme yawn, mouth-opening that involves clenching my cheek muscles, sorta making a grimace. Opening my mouth as wide as it will go causes no Velcro sound - there is some sort of mild, soft bone-conduction sound from my jaw movement. I think after a while in every day life, some sounds are there only if you concentrate on them, otherwise you factor them out by habituation just like folks stop feeling the wallet in their back pants pocket (but try switching pants side, etc.!).
It sounds like you are headed in the right direction. The extra sound level is most likely the molds. I would guess the gain in the aids is actually less now.
Clarity is something I really noticed moving away from domes.
Do you have a word recognition problem? The molds should help from what I am seeing.
Good luck with your new mold fitting.
Just got up from our dinner. With the chewing thing and associated noise, I have a hard time carrying on a conversation. I would be far better off simply taking the hearing aids out for dinner. Just too much noise and stuff going on to make any sense of what I am hearing. If I leave my mouth somewhat open, everything improves, but it is kind of hard to eat a meal without chewing and without closing your mouth.
Raudrive, my speech recognition was pretty good without hearing aids, and hearing aids have probably improved it some. When watching TV I turn the volume way down from where it used to be. It is at the point that I annoy my wife with having the volume too low for her.
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I wonder if it could be the material your molds are made from? Mine are made from ~hard silicone (not squishy). Crunchy foods like chips might be a tad crunchier but with my mold material I don’t notice ordinary foods and chewing.