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3D imaging for the perfect fit hearing aids

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I was doing a little research on the topic today, and it appeared to me that they are not very popular. Some people love them, but most people seem to give up on them.

Mine are hard plastic and I’m usually not even aware of them. The down side is that over three years I’ve broken the left one twice. I think I’m a little over-aggressive when cleaning them, and my left canal has an odd shape.

@BlueCrab because mine are mini molds I need to have the tubing glued into the mold. Or I’m forever at the GP getting him to dig the mold out of my canal as it sits deep in the canal. To clean them I take tube off the aid and into soapy water every week and I’m also aggressive. Lol.

In reply to @Deaf_piper

Ah! That is just a BUMMER about the softer silicone molds. As you’ve noticed, they slip backwards out of the ear with moisture. I have the same problem with my double domes.

Oh, I could press them in good and hard, then say NOTHING, eat NADA, in short freeze my jaw, mouth, lower face for the next 14 hrs and maybe the domes would stay put.

I have currently resorted to taping the wires right smack against my ear to hold the receivers IN the canal. I use 3M medical tape and just cut slim strips to get the job done.

Now I need hair transplants of my sideburns. Every time I remove the tape, there go about 2 hairs stuck fast to the dang tape. And YES, even women need some baby-fine sideburns or we look like we’ve had a shave there.

Glad the hard mini molds are working out for you!

I had to have embedded receivers in custom molds. My first set came back and they didn’t follow my audiologist’s instructions. So it was just the part in the canal itself. I Loved how it looked, but they tended to back out. So Resound remade them. These have no danger of coming out.

image image image image

In reply to @Neville

@Neville said:

Or some sort of blow-up earmold like a car air bag, where you insert and and then–poof!–it just magically and comfortably fills to exactly fit your canal.

Or a very soft silicone/other in a deformable ‘bag’ that already has the face-plate on the front and the receiver/vent set on a slightly stiffer clear flexible tube. Give it a blast of UV down the tube and the lot goes off in the canal. Hey presto - instant custom .
Minimal absorption of UV into the canal wall as the material diffuses it as it plasticises.

Not good for very powerful ITE where the receiver needs more isolation, but for 80-90% of cases?..

Would work great for too - you could even have different CC versions for the range of Ear sizes etc.

In reply to @Neville

@Neville said:

Or some sort of blow-up earmold like a car air bag, where you insert and and then–poof!–it just magically and comfortably fills to exactly fit your canal.

Oh my gosh, that’s it. That would make the remake, remake, remake obsolete. It would always fit, no feedback, and would always stay in.

In reply to @efigalaxie

@efigalaxie said:

These have no danger of coming out.

Thanks for the VERY helpful pictures, efigalaxie! Turns out I’ve gone that route twice in the past decade, and both times had a hideous allergic reaction to that clear plastic mold part. It’s supposedly “hypoallergenic” … except when it isn’t.

But you are right: no way are these receivers going to slide backwards out of the ear canal! :slight_smile:

I’ve had people allergic to the shellac that they put onto the custom tips, but you can request them not to add it. You can also get skeleton molds like that in a softer silicone.

But I get wanting to avoid allergic reactions. They are awful. I’d be hesitant to play around, too.

^^^ Even worse: I’m actually allergic to the entire mold made of clear or pink-tinted plastic. My ear cups are like lobster claws in about 6 hrs. By then, the ear canal is also inflamed where that plastic mold enters.

I feel VERY lucky not to have any reactions to the smoke-colored silicone domes. :slight_smile:

To get back to the original post, just yesterday I was a test subject at my audiologist for 3D imaging of my ears. I too have custom molded ear plug ends on my Starkey Livios because I have collapsing ear canals.

To make mine they used the old putty technique and I had to go in quite a few times for some Dremel adjustment. Since I have such unique canals they wanted me as a test subject for their new 3D system.

It consists of this little “gun” that has a balloon attached to it. Inside the gun is a vial of fluid and a camera. The insert the tip of the gun into your ear and slowly blow up the balloon. Then they fill it with fluid and then the camera extends and they move it around just a tiny bit and a perfect 3D image of your whole canal from eardrum to outer ear is done.

It took about 3 minutes per ear. No fuss, no mess, no putty, no fluid in your ear. It was pretty cool

^^^ That is incredibly COOL - and my absolute dream to have done on my own ear canals. Ahhhhh… to live in civilization where you have access to this kind of cutting-edge technology.

Wouldn’t we all rather have footwear that was laser-image fitted to OUR own feet? Yet, here we spend $6K for a medical device that typically is just fitted with a rubbery, imprecise silicone head on it. The putty-imaged molds are prone to leakage-squeakage cuz they can be altered by pulling them out, shipping them in or even during manufacture.

One thing I DO wonder about with laser imaging tho: how do you decide what time of day to go in for the sizing? My own ear canals seem to be swollen in the morning, but gradually open up during the day as blood circulates. This has been a more recent problem since hitting the big SIX-OH, but still … I always preferred to get my impressions taken after 1pm for optimal fit.

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