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How deep to insert domes?

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I’ve got Rexton Cobalt. I’m still getting used to them. What I’m wondering is, how deep do I insert the dome into my ears? I’m only seeing the audi at Costco on Sunday morning, so thought I’d ask here.

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Well, that is an excellent question. I am also trying out the Rexton Cobalt 16 from Costco and I can’t really get a good answer to that question. I have contacted Rexton and they say the double-dome that I have should “seal” in the ear but that is not comfortable and anyway, they will not stay sealed more than an hour or two now. I stick them in far enough so that the wire is against my head and they work out a little after a few minutes so there is a little gap between the wire and my head. That is super comfortable and I can hear best with that arrangement but I would prefer the wire be against my head. The next step for me is to get a custom mold and see if that fits better.

Which type/size dome do you have?

From what I understand, the “elbow” in the wire should turn the receiver and dome so they point straight into the upper portion of your canal and the dome should go in until the elbow in the wire is against your head. If they stay in that position then you are very fortunate. If they don’t stay put and work out a little you might try another size dome.

I’ve had two audiologists and they are great on the technical parts but are not much help in fitting domes and wires, probably because they don’t wear hearing aids every day. It was up to me to realize the receiver wire was too short for me and the domes were too small (hint: if it falls out it’s too small).

@Don said:

Well, that is an excellent question. I am also trying out the Rexton Cobalt 16 from Costco and I can’t really get a good answer to that question. I have contacted Rexton and they say the double-dome that I have should “seal” in the ear but that is not comfortable and anyway, they will not stay sealed more than an hour or two now. I stick them in far enough so that the wire is against my head and they work out a little after a few minutes so there is a little gap between the wire and my head. That is super comfortable and I can hear best with that arrangement but I would prefer the wire be against my head. The next step for me is to get a custom mold and see if that fits better.

Which type/size dome do you have?

That’s exactly why I was asking. :wink: Same situation here. The wire does not fit flush against my head, it works out a bit and so is more visible than it has to be, not that it bothers me. The dome goes in but then wiggles its way out slightly to that position if I move my jaw up and down. I’ll add this info to my list of questions for the audi on Sunday.

My domes are single 8mm with holes in it. Not sure if that makes sense.

I have a set of Cobalt 12 . I use the 8mm domes. They are too deep when the wires are against my head/ear. I would say they are about half way down the canal. They don’t work out and are comfortable enough that I generally forget they are there. I have even fallen asleep with them in at night. The wires are quite visible in this position. :frowning:

Jeff

I will do that when I go back to the audiologist. I read another thread on changing the shape of the wires. I think I’ll let Dr. Brenda do it. She mentioned that replacements were on the order of $150 each.

Thanks, Jeff

I have had the Costco Rexton Cobalt 16 for 3 week. I currently have the shortest wire, with 6mm . The first day I had them, she used the 8mm closed domes. I didn’t even make it home and was back there in an hour. The domes were too big; they hurt and the receivers were being pushed out, which made the wire stick out too. So try different domes. I tried 4 sizes when I went back that day.

If the wires are not flush with your face, you will have feedback problems. Even my eyeglass temples were causing terrible squealing feedback! The dog heard it and got very jumpy too. Once I did that, 90% of the feedback went away and she corrected the last 10%.

And the wire should go in your ear up to the bend in it. Pushing it in too far will make the sport lock stick out and the wire move away from your face.

What’s the difference between open and ? I have open domes because that’s what the audi gave me. How would I know if I need closed domes? I see also a double-dome, what’s that for?

Sorry, all newbie questions here. :wink:

Thanks
Robert

First, mine do not feedback even though I have the closed double-domes that do not seal in my ear and the wire sticks out from my head a little.

I started with shorter wires and they still stuck out a little but for a different reason. The elbow in the wire was positioned above the canal opening and the elbow itself stuck out. That was when we realized the wire was too short. The longer wire made an instant improvement in the sound level and quality because I think it positioned the receiver more toward my eardrum.

The double dome looks like the sigle dome except there are two of them, one right behind the other (like two doughnuts in a box). They are also different sizes. You can get the 8/10 mm or the 10/12 mm (what I have). I guess there is enough material there so that I don’t get feedback even though they are not “sealed” (like plugging your ear with your finger) but I would not recommend them unless you have to have them for feedback purposes.

The dome with holes has been described as the wagon-wheel dome. That one is “open”. The single looks just like the wagon-wheel dome, except no holes.

I’m going back to the audiologist tomorrow (Tuesday) for this very reason (fit and wire placement), to check out the possibility of using an open dome and/or to get an impression made to get a custom mold. I’ll let you know what I find out.

Saw the audiologist at Costco yesterday. She doesn’t want to do a custom mold yet so we are trying the single . I can see already that the wire is away from my head just like with the double-domes. I heard from the guys at Rexton that some people have success in turning the sport lock (the think flexible toothpick shaped thing made to fit in the bowl of the ear) upside down so it follows the curve of the upper portion of the outer ear. I tried that also and it doesn’t stay in place so when it starts to droop down it is more noticeable than before and may even cause the receiver to back out of the ear more. So I took the sport lock off and I may just run like that for a while.

So I still don’t have an answer to the original question of how far to insert the dome. I insert mine until the elbow in the wire is against my head and just let it back out to where it wants to sit. It might be better to not push it in that far, it might not back out as much.

It’s really like my audiologist said, the only people who notice these things are people who wear them and people who dispense them. Even with the wire standing out a little from my head people have been surprised when I tell them I have hearing loss and wear hearing aids.

I’ve found with the smaller domes (6mm closed, was 8mm open) that they sit better in my ears. They sit where they sit now. With the 8mm open they were pushing out because the dome was a bit too big, and so that’s why I kept wondering how deep to insert the domes.

About people not noticing your . I’ve had mine only 1.5 weeks now and not one person I work with or know has noticed them (even people coming right up to my desk and standing next to me). Even having coffee with a good friend the other night, he didn’t notice after chatting for about 1/2 hour, until I asked him if he noticed anything different, to which he didn’t, and I showed him.

OK, I have good news and bad news about the Cobalt fit. I finally found a combination that fits great for me. It is the open 10mm and the longest receiver and no little lock thing. It goes in as far as the elbow and stays put like that. Sometimes when I chew it works out a little but if I wiggle it around and find the sweet spot then it will stay there almost all day and the wire is nearly invisible up against my head. The sound is also still great. That’s the good news.

The bad news is it is very susceptible to feedback. The audiologist has turned it down a little and made some other adjustments but it still has this random, almost comical feedback.

So, now I’ve had a taste of the truly and good fit with the wire against my head and I don’t want to give that up. The audiologist thinks she can program the Resound Future to give me all that (open, snug fit, little feedback) so I have returned the Cobalts after 78 days and have purchased the Futures (Alera). I pick them up tomorrow.

I like the Cobalts and their performance is really good except for feedback in the open fit with my loss. Their speech in noise ability is really amazing. So now, on to the Futures.

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