Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Moulding wires/tubes on BTE aids

This topic is closed.

13 replies19.3k viewsLast reply

Link to this topic

New user. The right ear dome in-the-ear speaker keeps working itself out the ear canal. I suspect this may be improved if I bend the wire connection a bit. Should one bend these on the reSound Alera?

10 people in this conversation6 min readJump to latest

I have the Oticon and it says to use a hair dryer on the lowest setting. I fine-tuned mine when they were a couple of days old. Warm up the wire, hold in place the way you want the bend and let it cool. The wire should stay bent.

I found a nice way to bend my tubing to the shape I want. I use the standard ear hook tubing however but the concept should still work. I straighten a small paper clip, and on the you may need to use a thinner wire. I insert that into the tubing and bend it to the shape I want. Then I use the hairdryer and allow it to cool down with the wire still inside. Once it’s cool I take it out. Also gives you something to hold onto while the tubing is under the hot dryer.

Against my Audi’s suggestion I tried the small domes. The receivers go in and stay in much better.

The Alera’s are receiver in the ear so the paperclip trick would not work.

I just got fitted with the Resound Alera 961 and are very dissapointed with the way the receiver tubes stick out, 7 or 8mm from my temples which looks like teacup handles and interfere with eyeglasses.

I went several times to my audi and he tried different tube lenght, diff domes and ‘he said’ bending the tubes with the manufacturer ‘bending kit’ although I could not see what he did and adding the sport-locks in the two possible directions.

None of these improved the problem, after a few minutes of wearing them the tubes spring out… really frustrating especially when my old Bernafon’s at 1/4 of the price fitter perfectly…

I called ReSound and after I explained all of the above … they just told me ‘don’t mess with the tubes’ and have your audilogist use the ‘bending kit’, so much for a $3,000 hearing aid.

I read about the hair dryer option… has anyone tried this on ReSounds?
Yes it will probably invalidate the warranty … but what’s the choice?

Any help is appreciated

Marcelo

I would check out the length of the receiver wire first. Something is making them spring out. That happened to me with the Rextons I tried when the receiver wire was too short, so the elbow was being straightened when I inserted the dome and the spring action of the straightened wire would pull out the domes. The elbow should be bent right at the top of your ear canal. It’s hard to see on yourself but with the right mirrors and pulling your ear a little bit so you can see the canal you should be able to tell if the elbow is bent at the right spot. If it’s not, it’s the wrong size receiver wire.

The other thing is the size of the domes. If they are too large they might pop out but 7-8 mm is a big distance so something is very wrong.

They should fit comfortably with the wire against your head.

What size domes have you tried so far? Have you tried the tulip domes?

You mention that it was just the right ear that was giving you trouble. My thought is that either your ears have an asymmetry, or your two units do. In the case of the latter, you can have your Audi adjust the wire on the second unit to match the first. If the issue is because your ears are a little different, again your Audi should be able to simply identify the difference and make an adjustment based on that. While there is a lot of good advice given on here, keep in mind that your particular situation may be somewhat different from what some of the other folks experienced - even if it’s the same brand and model.

In reply to @Don

I tried small, medium domes and the tulips, no good.

My audi tried another receiver wires that were longer and it was worse, the h. aid was too high on my ear and not touching/resting on the back side as they should since the wires are stiff and were raised…

I will look again tonight with a couple of mirrors but if that’s the case how do I -bend- them? my audi is useless and hunting for another more sympathetic to my problem is going to take time an extra money.

It is on both ears the same, if I mentioned ‘right’ ear it was a mistake.

thanks for your help.

Marcelo

Edited

Well, getting to the bottom of what’s going on might result in an easier/better solution, but, to re-bend the wire you can heat it up with a hair dryer on low heat, holding it in the new position you want. Theoretically, when you heat it up, holding it in the new position, then keep holding in the new position while it cools, it will stay that way once it is cool.

I’ve tried the hair dryer bending trick and haven’t had really good results (on the Rexton). The elbow seemed to still have some memory and eventually reverted to the original bend. But, the angle that the wire comes off the Hearing aid is a different story. I had one that came off at a little bit of an angle, away from my head. The hair dryer trick worked well on that part. I got the wire to come out of the hearing aid and go right against my head.

So my experience has been, not able to rebend the elbow but I was able to change the angle of attack coming out of the hearing aid. In fact I need to do that to one of my Resound Futures but it’s not critical and I just haven’t done it.

wires in general don’t retain new shapes very well and usually revert to the original shape. Heating works fine for tubes but I’ve not had success with wires. Best thing to do that I’ve found is basically to pull, straighten, and twist the wire in the direction you want it to go. Hard to describe…

Can you take a picture with a cell phone or something and post up here so we can see the aids on your ears? Might make it easier to guide you on which part to try and bend and how to do so.

You don’t sound like you’re very happy with your audiologist - if you post up your general location some of us may be able to point you to a different provider to save you some time and possibly get you to someone who as you said may be “more sympathetic” to your issue.

-D

Here are the images I took from both the new Allera with bad fitting (tubes sticking) and the old Bernafon (much better contoured tubes)

Marcelo

Thanks for the suggestions, I will post a picture later -ear only, don’t worry… :slight_smile:

I live in Metuchen, New Jersey 08840

Marcelo

If the problem is the shape of the wire or the direction of the tip, you can change the shape of the wire or the direction of the receiver by rubbing the wire where you want to change the shape with your finger or a round tip plier gentlly for several times. The dryer method works but I will suggest you let the specialist to do that. But if the problem is caused by the shape or the direction of your ear canal then you will have to either change to a different length receiver or use a custom made tip.

@338Ultra said:

New user. The right ear dome in-the-ear speaker keeps working itself out the ear canal. I suspect this may be improved if I bend the wire connection a bit. Should one bend these on the reSound Alera?

In my case, in the end, the wires needed to be changed from a No1 to a No2 or visa versa. Great snug outcome. The only issue I have (and this is one and a half years on) is when I am chewing and the receivers work their way out - can’t blame them with the jaw bone going like it does.

So I’m happy.

Learnt a helluva lot in the intervening time though - including how different audiologist are in their skills (hearing and equipment setting)

In reply to @DrAudio

I was roaming the forum last night, and found this. Tried it and it seems to work.

I insert [a straightened paper clip] into the tubing and bend it to the shape I want. Then I use the hairdryer and allow it to cool down with the wire still inside. Once it’s cool I take it out
:cool:

Also put a bit of red nailpolish on my right aid, so I don’t have tho think in the morning when I put them in. :rolleyes:

Active discussions

What the forum has been talking about this week.