I’ve been wearing Whisper hearing aids for the past 3 years. The right ear has been fitted with a closed dome and the left with a power dome, both Phonak domes.
So, recently I did some experimenting on my own. I replaced the domes with a set of Oticon open bass domes just for the heck of it. Wow! What a difference. It’s like I’ve got a new pair of hearing aids. Not only does my own voice predictably sound better and more natural, but speech clarity is noticeably improved as well.
Absolutely. That was my biggest issue with the Whispers is that with the domes they gave me the feedback was awful and we still weren’t able to enough gain. For many of us, going to custom molds is an even more dramatic improvement.
Interesting that you went to custom ear molds. My previous hearing aids were Oticon Opn 1 for which custom molds were eventually prescribed, but my Whisper audiologist, who is different than the one who prescribed the custom molds for my Oticon, did not think that ear molds were indicated.
Who made your ease molds? Did they come from Whisper or somewhere else? Thanks in advance.
I totally dislike domes but love custom ear molds. No slipping out of place. No feedback issues. And no having my hearing aids fall off when changing glasses, or by a tree branch while hiking in the forest.
I used the Whispers as part of a study and just their molds. Study was about 6 weeks I think. My current aids are KS9. I first used them with Phonak made custom molds with Concha lock but they wouldn’t stay secure. Replaced with molds made by Westone with skeleton mold and they are quite secure with no feedback. My guess is that you’d like custom molds, but it’s all individual preference.
I love my full skeleton ear molds with my Real1 aids. My INTENT1 aids will have semi-skeleton ear molds. That was a suggestion by my audiologist due to a couple issues of hot spots with my full skeleton ear molds that took some trimming and polishing to fix. I guess i will see how good the 3D ear impressions are. It will be my first experience with the 3D impressions.
Yes, I did like the molds when I had them for my Oticons. They were made by the manufacturer, but it sounds like there are generic makers of custom ear molds (Westone?)?
What are skeleton ear molds, Chuck?
Yes. Google them. They have an amazing variety.
Thanks, Chuck. Very much appreciated.
Thanks very much, @MDB. I’ll look into this. I have an independent evaluation coming up with the audiologist who previously prescribed ear molds. Good to know that I still can have access to molds for my Whispers.
Can you show us what they look like while wearing? I can never get molds for my right ear to stay in. I currently have canal molds with the little foot, lock, elbow, or whatever it is called. Doesnt hit my ear correctly.
https://www.mid-stateslabs.com/standard-styles1
Someone posted this awhile back.
Great explanation of the different moulds.
Cool! Thank you. I may need to go to that. The canal lock on the right is just not staying in.
New here. I have been using Phonak BTE aids for about 10 years, with generic silicone domes. My hearing has slowly gotten worse over the years, and the fit of the closed domes has gotten to be an issue. I have concluded that the domes have effectively been open due to loose fit.
Since they are like a mushroom, I will refer to the parts as cap and stem. The
domes I originally chose from had different size caps, but the stems are all about the same roughly 6mm diameter. Recently I found on ebay some domes for two-way radio gear that have stems about 3mm larger in diameter. These give a snug, closed fit and I’m hearing much better now. An ebay search “MaximalPower Clear Silicone Earpiece” brings up one brand.
I consider my general hearing loss to be moderately severe, plus I hear essentially nothing above 4000 Hz. The hearing aids I use are Phonak OK! Plus M.
I just want to clarify that these are aids with all the electronics BTE. There is only the silicone earpiece in the ear, connected by tubing.
Yours appear to be BTE, with narrow tubes. These can have domes or slimtips (if Phonak). Personally, I’d say the definition of a “closed dome” is actually pretty open, even if they don’t fit too well.
Regarding the pics above this question, they are clearly RIC with some form of custom mold.
Peter
