Wax Guard Replacement Frequency?

Hearing Aids
#1

I’m most of the way through a trial of Phonak Audeo S SMART RITEs with domes (not certain I have exactly the right nomenclature here). For reference, my previous aids for about 5 years were Oticon Syncro BTEs (i.e., with receiver in aid, tubes, and earmolds).

I find that the wax guards become plugged almost as frequently as the batteries need replacing. This seems odd if not disappointing to me because I keep my ears quite clean (violate all the no Q-tips deep in ear rules) and I don’t perspire much.

As a new user of this type of aid, it was initially hard to diagnose why the affected aid was suddenly nonfunctional. Replaced battery even though I heard no low-battery warning tone. Audi had not given me replacement wax guards, so I removed and cleaned them with very fine wire, magnifying glass, and strong light (not easy). Then affected aid worked.

My old earmolds were easy to keep clean. My guess is that Phonak and Oticon have different approaches to this RITE aid problem. The Phonak Agil RITEs that I trialed had domes that were very hard to clean, but the little filters (i.e., wax guards) never got plugged. These Phonak Audeo RITEs have domes that are easy to clean, but I’m concluding that the downside is that they let more wax get through to the filters. Also, with respect to something so basic as filter plugging maintenance, the Phonak manual says “See your hearing care professional.” Why don’t they just explain wax guard replacement like they explain battery replacement.

Phonak Audeo RITE useds (and other RITE users): How often do you replace wax guards? Do you do this as “preventative maintenance” or do you do it any time the aid stops working and you know it’s not the battery? Experiences? Opinions?

(Hz) L(dB) R(dB)
250 40 50
500 55 65
1K 55 60
2K 60 60
4K 70 70
8K 90 100
L: 88% SDat80dB
R: 64% SDat85dB
L&R stapedectomy

#2

I have always replaced only when needed

#3

I replace only when needed- 16 lasted me about 3.5 years. Some of those were learning curve on trouble shooting so I guess every few months.

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#4

Unfortunately some people produce a soft wax that can easily clog receivers on RIC aids - I would recommend giving the end of the domes a good brush with the brush from your kit every morning which will hopefully help reduce the frequency of wax guard changing. If not and you’re still changing the wax guards weekly then you may consider a change back to traditional BTE with mould as would fix the issue that you’re currently experiencing igiven your previous experience with traditional BTE

Edit - and in regard to your question about the frequency of wax guard changing it can really vary from user to user. I see some patients who never need to change their wax guards and others who need to change them every 1-2 weeks. it really depends on the person and how much wax/type of wax they produce

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#5

I change my first pair of wax guard almost two years into wearing my OPNs. But my ears don’t generate much wax

#6

My ReSound Quattro manual recommends replacing the wax guards once a month. An excellent generic HA care guide provided by TruHearing on plastic fold-out cards recommends “deeper-cleaning” once a week with replacement of wax guards “as necessary,” (whatever that means). I’m using a Jodi-Vac on the domes while pinching the dome against the receiver to vacuum the receiver openings in the dome. Jodi-Vac claims that the needle point will suck up any ear oils beyond wax that have seeped into the dome openings, wax guards, etc. Has a great placebo effect on me but I have no good idea how thoroughly I am actually able to clean the dome output area since I have NOT done the control experiment, i.e., not use the Jodi-Vac, for comparison. When I remove my domes and change my wax guards for the first time in a few days, I may know better and will update.

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#7

I’m approaching the end of my first year with KS7/open domes. I plan to change them whether they need it or not.

#8

To me at least, a wax guard needs replacement when it contains enough wax to disrupt or completely block sound. The filters are small so it doesn’t take a lot of wax to do it.

Each morning I check my wax guards in one, or both, of two ways. One way is to listen to the startup beeps (I get 10 of them) on each side, and see if they sound like they should. This relies on my listening judgment and I don’t entirely trust it. The other way is to pull off the domes and look at the wax guards. In good light, I can tell with my naked eye whether the guard is clean. I don’t know if pulling off the domes too often weakens them.

My wax guard change interval has varied widely. I just went weeks before having to replace one, while in the warmer weather I sometimes replaced them multiple times per week. Also, I suspect that Phonak domes, with an arch of rubber over the sound opening, keep wax out of the guards better than ReSound domes. On ReSound earmolds the filter is exposed, so there’s no problem checking for wax, but also nothing to keep the wax out.

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#9

I changed my wax guards after 1 month. They were very clean. I didn’t see anything in the pores but since I can only see the outside of the pores and they’re relatively easy to change, it didn’t seem a big deal to do so. I looked at one of the bare receivers, after removing the wax guard, and it was very clean inside as well. It seems the big trick in switching out wax guards is to clean up the outside of the receivers and the domes very well before doing so so that you don’t have any crud that somehow accidentally falls into the bare receivers or into the new wax guards before you put the domes back on. Since I have Sports Locks on my receivers, I also had to look out that those didn’t slip out of place in the pushing and pulling involved and prevent me from getting the domes all the way back onto the receivers. But hopefully the PR for the Jodi-Vac is correct and vacuum cleaning helps keep your dome/wax guard pores clean. With brushing and scraping, I couldn’t see how I wasn’t going to push some stuff into my dome/wax guard pores eventually.

#10

Speaking of replacing wax guards, does anyone know if Phonak Cerustop 098-0282 wax guards work on ReSounds (particularly the Quattro’s)? On Amazon the best pricing deal on Cerustop wax guards is on the Phonak ones, advertised to work on Widex, Unitron, and Phonak. Some purchasers say that they also work on their ReSounds but the official ReSound Cerustop wax guards have a different logo on the case and are more expensive on Amazon. Hate to pay more if the Phonak’s are essentially the same wax guard, just rebranded (everything about the application tool, the case, the wax guard contour, etc., basically looks the same as the official ReSound wax guards that I have).

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#11

Our mobile clinicians use the Jodi-vac. Works very well.

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#12

To answer my own question, I found the following advice on the UK Keep Hearing site under Phonak CeruSTOP wax guards (claims to be the UK’s favourite hearing aid accessory store - so if that’s true, perhaps they have reason to know):

"Is it compatible with other brands?

The CeruSTOP wax filters are also found on other brands hearing aids. So do not worry if you are using these filters but are confused because your hearing instrument is from another manufacturer. As long as you need CeruSTOP, these will be fine."

So I ordered a 10-pk(80 units) of Phonak CeruSTOP’s on Amazon for $25.99 and will see how those work out. Don’t know much about the physics of sound but I’m curious that the holes in the wax guards don’t have to be aligned with the holes in the domes, etc.

Phonak introduces Marvel platform and Audéo M hearing aids
#13

The answer is “YES!” The Phonak Cerustop wax guards cited in my quote seem to work fine on my Quattro receivers. Definitively remove and replace with no apparent problems in tightness of fit and grip.

Since the case of the Cerustops says it’s recyclable in plastic category #5, that’s where I’m returning the wax guard removal tool and used wax guard to go to that great recycling bin in the sky.

EDIT_UPDATE One further conundrum arising: on the package of the Cerustops, there is presumably the manufacture date: 2017-08-24. Does anyone know if Cerustops age in a bad way just sitting around? Perhaps that’s why there is such a relatively good deal in purchasing 10 8-pk’s on Amazon of a lot that is already more than a year old. It will take me ~3 years+ to use them all up so the very last will have sat around 4 years after manufacture before being put into use.

Phonak introduces Marvel platform and Audéo M hearing aids
#14

Mine lasted three years without problem. I only got a couple of new packets a few months ago.

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#15

Thanks for the info! I also asked on Amazon on the Phonak product page and someone there said that they’ve used packets 5 years old with no problem, too. I guess the main problem would be if somehow because of age they disintegrated or otherwise misfunctioned (! - sic) and let wax into the receivers but it’s good to know that’s not a problem. We let our house get pretty warm in summer (up to 85 deg F part of the day) so I’m probably going to subject my wax guards in storage to a bit more heat stress than most folks.

#16

I have custom molds on my OPN, they use two waxguards behind each other, different size. The outside ones are a week to 3 weeks. I clean them myself with a (Cola)bottle warm water, with a tiny hole in the cap where I place the filter in. I do have 3 sets filters, so when they are all dirty I do all at once. The inside ones take long.
I can advise to dry your ears after the shower before putting HA in. Because all the moisture, will loosen the wax and let it easy low inside the speaker. I had to replace one speaker within a year, I think it got waxed inside.

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#17

The Jodi-Vac PR claims that ear “oil” can seep into your receivers through your domes and wax guards and claims that using a Jodi-Vac will allow you to suck out any liquid-like material seeping in through the dome/wax guard barriers. I have no idea whether that’s really so. The first time I changed my wax guards, I did look at the bare receivers and they looked as clean as new. But thanks for the tip about showering and thoroughly drying one’s ears. I could see, too, if I plunked my HA’s in right away and had some residual water left around the ear canal openings, I might push the water right up into my ear canals with the domes. I haven’t been especially careful to dry around my ear canals after a shower but will be now! Loosening the wax or not, getting water itself into your receivers would not be a good idea - and I hadn’t worried about that too much, either!

#18

It regularly gets up to that temperature here and about 5 deg. higher. Just keep them in the coolest convenient drawer.

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#19

Maybe, in the interest of science, you could only use the Jodi-Vac on one aid for a while.

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#20

Does the Jodi-Vac collect the material vacuumed up? In other words, can you see how much stuff you remove over time?

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