#13

Ouch. Custom earmolds are tricky. Just to be clear: are these HARD acrylic or a semi-firm acrylic?

If HARD, you may have an easier time filing it down - but BE SURE this doesn’t invalidate the warranty (if you have one - I think you bought these off eBay?).

I’m guessing you have pain from the pressure of the mold pressing TOO HARD on your ear. The result is a tenderness (like a bruise) there. It can only be fixed with a NEW mold or verrrrry carefully shaving down your existing one till it fits comfortably.

Unlike shoes, earmolds really shouldn’t be “broken in”. If they pinch, press too hard - or are too loose - from the first time you put them in, the mold doesn’t fit. PUSH BACK. Don’t accept these, cuz that pain will likely not go away till the issue is resolved.

Keep us posted on your situation.

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#14

My aids are from the VA, my audiologist used a polishing wheel to fix my ear molds. Also my audiologist said that I could use alcohol wipes to clean my ear molds. Just do it sparingly and allow the ear molds to dry. He also said if the alcohol did damage to ear molds he would just have them remade. I have worn acrylic ear molds now for 5 years and haven’t had any issues using the wipes
I don’t use the wipes daily by any means. I also, use microcell pro before i put my aids in my ears in the morning. Since i have been using the microcell pro my iching ears have stopped.

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#15

You can irritate or inflame your ear canal, too. I did that with a mold that had fit pretty well until then. If your ear canal swells up a bit, you can get into a vicious cycle of irritating it more, more swelling, and worse fit.

I reduced my wearing time to help the irritation go away. Since I am a psoriatic and have a range of different strength steroid creams or ointments, I used a little desonide ointment, about the mildest topical steroid there is, safe to apply to facial tissues, to lubricate the mold before insertion. The idea was that the steroid would gradually suppress the inflammation. I normally use a bit of olive oil as lubricant out of a dropper bottle, as suggested by my audi.

You may just have a bad-fitting mold, but in my case, I had irritated my ear canal, which caused it to swell, so the mold no longer fit as it should.

4 Likes
#16

They are hard acrylic and my ear hurts when I touch this part even when I’m not wearing the hearing aid now. I made those earmold in Phonak Cairo branch. I didn’t tell them that I bought the hearing aids from eBay. :DD

I used to spray alcohol on a piece of tissue to clean my old hearing aids every day. I’m going to do the same with the acrylic earmolds but probably I should follow you and don’t do it daily.

I’m afraid I already irritated it already because that outer part hurts. I had to wear the hearing aids the last few days as I was traveling back and forth from Cairo and Luxor. I will give my ear some break today.

#17

That left Audiogram has no Air Conduction reading.

There’s symbols for BC and masked BC, but no AC value. Target doesn’t know what to do. You can’t just sling any symbols from an incomplete Audiogram in and expect to have a proper result/suggested fitting level as the software is calculating based on garbage. The left fitting is just drivel.

Assuming there’s actual hearing in the left cochlear (which there might not be if the masking was inadequate), the power would be stepped right up, and you’d probably fit with silicone moulds and thickwall tubing. As it stands any left aid on that prescription is just there for show. In the pre-selection the wrong acoustics have been selected too. The MPO advice is twaddle as well.

In terms of ‘stuff done badly’ in a hearing aid fitting you’ve basically scored about 100%.

1 Like
#18

@Zebras
As @dankailo mentioned I once asked Pluggerz as manufacturer of some of my customized soft silicone earmolds which were hard to get in because of their size what to use as I used talcum powder and vaseline.
This is their answer “ To get them in your ears a bit easier, you can indeed use vaseline, this is also not harmful. Vaseline is preferred over baby oil because it is neutral”.

It also gave me painrelease after some days of local pain because of manipulation at my crus helix region in one ear.

These molds were more expensive than the several original Phonak’s I use and still after years I didn’t notice any damage on these soft silicone ones.
Just to inform about my experience.

Furthermore I agree with the former advices of @firenzel and @cvkemp. Do or let do by your supplier some shaping after first trying out some rest of the trigger point. On your pictures the fit seems to be a bit tight, but you neither want to lose them.

2 Likes
#19

OK. That seems to indicate that the mold needs either re-doing OR very skillful sanding down to the point where it fits COMFY. Don’t accept a painful mold, cuz it will only get worse over time.

My mom has the very same thing going on - for THREE years now. She recently admitted she never even wears those aids anymore. She puts on older ones ONLY if she’s going out. So she misses a lot of phone calls and friends coming to her door. Her hearing is like mine: cinderblock!

That poor-fitting aid gave my mom a contusion in that one hear. Her hard acrylic mold presses against the tragus. It gets red and absolutely ACHES to distraction. So please get some adjustment made to your hard acrylic mold.

Also! My audi recommended AudioWipes to clean my aids. I use them to wipe down the silicone domes fairly often. I buy them in bulk at Amazon.

Zeeza, you’re a TOUGH COOKIE! You don’t give up. You get it done. So keep us posted on your progress with these issues.

4 Likes
#20

I had the same problem for awhile, but after my audiologist worked on my ear molds and trimmed them down in the area where my ears were sore and i used antibiotic cream on the sore spot at night for close to a week my ears are fine now.

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#21

Or try soft molds. Mine are silicone skeleton type

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#22

I agree if it is an option. It isn’t an option for my aids and receivers. My only option is acrylic custom ear molds.

#23

I know you have Oticon More and Real aids. What kind of receivers do you have?

#24

The embedded 105db receivers, and remember i get my aids from the VA.

#25

Curious why you have 105’s? At my loss, i just went to 100’s.and that is only in my worse ear. Maybe im missing something? Tnx

#26

It is so I can have my aids adjusted to the very peak of my audiogram without have any issues with feedback. I get no wobble or artifacts when sounds come at the pecks that give most users less than the maximum they need to hear. I get no feedback at all. For some with less issues with understanding speech what my aids are set to would be over kill. My fittings is a result of a dedicated doctor and professor of audiology and the help of 3 Oticon audiologists, and 15 appointments over 18 months, and three changes in aids and receivers and ear molds to find what really works for my hearing loss. I have said over and over that audiograms don’t tell the whole story. And that REM is only a starting point. This is by the way an advantage of the VA and its dedication to find what makes my life at enjoyable as possible.

4 Likes
#27

Grease/Oil can water based or oil based, it depends on how it is formulated. Sometime oil based can damaged some rubberized product, so it advisable to use water based or “neutral” based. Silicone might be resistant, I don’t know. Our ears produced a small amount of wax/oil that’s lubricate the ears canal, but some have dry ears!

#28

Like others have mentioned, ask your audiologist to trim the ear mold. Alternatively, you might get on better with soft molds.
Everyone’s ear anatomy and preferences are different. Personally I find soft molds uncomfortable and will be picking up acrylic ones today as that’s what I have found more comfortable in the past.
Good luck, hope you find a solution that works for you.

1 Like
#29

Thank you for all the tips and encouragement!

Thanks, you taught me a new word as well. Now, I know what a tragus is. Also, I know that the part that hurts me is called concha cymba!! I hope I will not need an antibiotic! :((

I had a bte with a soft earmold in the left ear a few years ago but it never settled well. It always popped out and I had to keep pushing it inside now and then which was really irritating. Now, the same ear is giving me a hard time with the hard earmold as well!!

1 Like
#30

Thats why i went to soft skeleton type, they cant back out.

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#31

I spent about 4 months exploring custom molds for my Phonak Lumitys, and in the end I decided to stick with closed dome tips. I could never get the comfort part correct with Phonak custom molds. This was surprising, as I’ve always heard that Phonak custom molds are some of the best and they are good at this. YMMV

I started with hard acrylic molds, not much different than picture from OP. They hurt when I put them in, and didn’t improve over couple of days trial. Phonak re-made them with adjustments for fit, but no joy. So, we next tried cShell molds. cShell were initially much better … but in the end not really good enough. I was looking for a mold that I could pop in and wear all day without thinking about it. I could do that pretty well with right ear, but could only go for 6-7hrs with left. Audiologist was able to carefully grind (polish?) further and that helped a bit more, but I could never get to the “put in and forget” stage as desired.

If you’re not happy with fit when you first put them on, you’ll need to pursue adjustments. I’ve found that we won’t really get used it … this isn’t the same as breaking in new shoes. Your provider should be able to modify your molds a bit, to see if pressure can be reduced and the fit improves. Or have them remade. Since these are new, I’d certainly let your provider take on adjustments, vs. trying to modify yourself, as the molds can be damaged if too aggressive with modification.

Next step for me would be to go to softer (silicone) material, but Phonak for me only offered the hard materials. Closed dome tips are comfortable for me, only downside is that I have to re-seat occasionally after chewing. My perception is that I can hear just as well with them, so I’m not yet motivated to pursue independent sources for additional custom mold options (custom molds from Phonak were included in my purchase price).

I’m happy with Lumity performance at this point with regular closed dome tips. But if you need custom molds to hear most effectively, then best to keep after it. Good luck!

2 Likes
#32

Hey,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with molds!

Now, I have to wait until my ear heals. I can’t have anything in it as it hurts.
Next step will be to have it polished by a hearing care professional.

I tried the soft earmolds before and they always backed out. I hope all of that will be sorted out soon!

1 Like