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Ear Molds

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My Costco fitter recommended acrylic ear molds for my Philip’s 9050 aids. Will get them installed 9/12. Acting on something I read, I covered my receivers with my fingers and was amazed at the dramatic improvement in streaming sound quality. Is this from trapping the sound? I have bass domes. Will I see similar improvement with ear molds? Thanks.

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Yes, there's simply less bass leaking outside. You have similar shape of as mine - just for experimenting, you can try power domes. I had L size, but finally I had M size due to deeper receiver placement, which helps greatly with occlusion effect.

@Bimodal_user is right on about bass leakage. As far as whether you will see a similar improvement with earmolds, yes with considerations. For streaming sound quality, ideally you would not vent at all. However, particularly given how good your lower frequencies are, this is not ideal for general use. A good "best of both worlds" solution might be an earmold that is fairly deep so the speaker is pointing closer at the eardrum, leading to more robust streaming sound. Also with the deeper earmold you can vent a little more liberally to help avoid occlusion, but without leaking as much bass while streaming.

I did not ask enough questions but I think she recommended molds based on feedback measurements and the shape of my ear canal. She said I am “leaving a lot of improvement on the table.”

Yep, molds are your only sensible choice,domes won't make the cut for such high frequency loss, a much better fit and very little if any movement with the canal lock molds.

In reply to @Jackhammer

I'm pretty sure you will like the acrylic ear molds once you get used to the sounds of the 9050's. You didn't say if you were getting acrylic molds. I can't use RIC's. I have what is called acrylic skeleton mold with a plastic tube which connects the mold to the aid. My molds also have a pressure relief vent as well. I have been wearing this style of molds for years. Look at my avatar pic.

I can't provide any info if you're getting the acrylic RIC molds. If you are getting molds which has the tubbing to connect the mold to the ear hook of the aid then I can offer some advice on these.

Thx, not sure what I am getting. Since the 9050’s are , I assumed the molds must be too. RIC = receiver in canal, right?

In reply to @Jackhammer

@Jackhammer said:

she recommended molds based on feedback measurements and the shape of my ear canal. She said I am “leaving a lot of improvement on the table

You have much loss in highest frequencies. You need more gain, but that comes with risk of feedback.

This is why I risked and after trying cShell with UP receiver with 1mm diameter vent with quite good results I have gone for cShell with no vent, because I weren't happy with noise isolation with 1mm vent.

What receiver power do you have?

If you look at fitting range, my is too good for UP, but choosing that receiver and getting much high frequency gain was very good decision in my case.

However, Phonak UP receiver has quiet noise floor, I'm not sure what about Philips 105? receivers.

I have 85 receivers. I hear a constant static, especially at high volumes and the Speech in Noise program. Another poster on this forum said the 9050’s have a floor noise issue. I am going to try the Sennheiser Sonite Rise (Phonak Infinio) which hopefully will eliminate this static if my fitter cannot adjust it out. Thanks for your interest and helpful comments.

If you have static, ask your about changing soft noise reduction feature. This is also called "expansion". No guarantee, but there are some people, which found it helpful.

I've just ended a 90 trial of Phonak Audeo with domes after 12 years of custom moulds with other makes of aid.

I couldn't get on with the domes, tried different sizes and powerdomes. I have very narrow ear canals, esp. the right one and despite the audiologists suggesting different techniques for putting them in, they either fell out or irritated my ear. The Phonak aids themselves were very good but no better than those supplied by the NHS with custom moulds.

I have therefore returned the Phonaks and gone back to my Danalogics with custom moulds. I got a full refund from the Boots Hearing Centre, no problem at all.

Conclusion - Custom moulds suit my ears and my hearing loss best but everyone is different. They are acrylic skeleton moulds with a plastic tube to the BTE device. Not quite so discreet, but that doesn't bother me.

I got my acrylic molds fitted yesterday on my Philips 9050 ’s. Sound much better but I am getting terrible feedback. I have fiddled to make sure they are snug but I cannot stop feedback. Reduced volume helps. Follow-up appointment is 9/22.

I will probably replace the 9050’s with Sonite Rise. Fitter said I would need molds with them too but I am concerned they will create feedback on the Rise too.

In reply to @Jackhammer

My own 2-cents' worth here. You can see from my , I'm down on the floor with the snake bellys.

For 15+ years I wore soft, silicone power domes on my aids (Oticon, Phonak), but when I learned about "roughed-up" or grippy custom titanium molds, I opted to try that route on my Phonak 312 Lumity Lifes. WOW. I can not tell you how transformative a GOOD, snug, comfy-fitting, custom mold is over the easier-to-insert silicone domes. Night and day.

I used to push those silicone domes in allllLLllllllllLLll day long! They'd keep slipping out with any kind of articulation of the lower face (eat, talk, laugh, YAWN), driving me nuts. No more, no more with my titanium molds. They stay put from dawn to bedtime.

I highly doubt custom, roughed up (NOT smooth!) titanium molds would be an option through Costco, but ASK about them. If this is a trial, you really should go a route that leaves nothing on the table, just sayin'.

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