My ear canals are relatively straight and I’ve always had problems with my left ear mould slipping out of the canal. This is especially prominent when I wear my over head headphones for work calls. Suspect it’s the pressure combined with jaw movements.
Over the years I’ve done
- CIC acrylic. Went deep into the ear and appeared shallow on the surface
- RIC silicon small. Different ‘grippier’ material that started in similar spot from outside of my ear and didn’t go as deep
- RIC silicon large. Very large canal focused mould that was more prominent from the outside but finished in similar spot in canal to my small silicon mould
Here’s some side-by-side pictures of the three recent moulds I’ve tried as I’ve gone from CIC to RIC.
https://imgur.com/a/PC1RfkC
During my fitting I’ve tried mouth closed, keeping my mouth slightly open with a bite and also constantly talking, moving my head around, etc. Each have resulted in similar slippage.
I’m wondering if I need a canal lock or retention wire and curious for feedback from current users. How comfortable are they? How visible are they? Did you try any other solutions before settling on your final choice?
My preference is for the most discrete and secure solution so want to avoid full ear mould skeleton or otherwise.