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Hearing loss mystery

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Edited

Moderate hearing loss and wearing Phonak Marvel which helps for normal conversation.
Watching television and listening music with the TV-connector works, but the volume has to be high. Now my mystery ! When I push with my finger against the receiver in both ears I can guide the receiver to get a much improved hearing quality. To the point that I can reduce the volume a few notches. Now I am wearing, on top of the Phonak Marvel, a simple ear protection device, a 3M Flexicap, that gently pushes on my receivers, the result is fantastic. With 3 notches of lower volume can hear clearly, spoken word, music, background music.This is a picture of the 5 USD device.

Flexicap%203M

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Sounds like you could benefit from a different dome or custom ear molds.

As cvkemp said, it sure sounds like you need better acoustics, probably custom earmolds. Looking at your I would think molds would help. They have made a huge difference for me.

Pictured is a soft silicone earmold, very comfortable.

image

Thanks for suggesting molds. I have older ones made out of hard plastic, but I’ll get silicone ones. My is outfitted the loss got worse and starts now around 40 db and ends around 60 db, but I don’t find how I can update or modify my audiogram on the user page.

14 IMG_9293

As an engineer, I have to say there is a lot more they can do with tube shaping and supports for open receiver systems for mild-to-moderate loss range. But they just don’t seem to care. “Let them use Earmolds” is their “Let them eat Cake” mantra.

After months of experimentation, I’ve found that just the right shape of the “wire” now keeps the receivers in/at my canal instead of turned into the skin of my outer ear. Now with just the right modification to the retention flap I can have an optimal, consistent open receiver system which is what I really need. Why did I have to spend nearly 100 hours of my time on this obvious issue? With not even a shred of guidance though I’ve asked repeatedly and fed both Phonak and my audi my incremental findings?

In reply to @wntmldrs

@wntmldrs said:

Thanks for suggesting molds. I have older ones made out of hard plastic, but I’ll get silicone ones. My audiogram is outfitted the loss got worse and starts now around 40 db and ends around 60 db, but I don’t find how I can update or modify my audiogram on the user page.

You have to make sure the you want displayed is on top of the list. I deleted all audiograms that I didn’t want.

In reply to @ss510

Yes but i"m fitted with the full domes, so there is no aiming. Just push it in.
If I head for the custom molds how can they aim it precisely ?
I think my solution with the slight pressure of the ear protectors by 3M I get
a sort of combined air and bone transmission.

If the custom molds are done right then they should be closer to your ear drum and pointed correctly.

In reply to @wntmldrs

@wntmldrs said:

If I head for the custom molds how can they aim it precisely ?

The earmold impression will follow the inner canal shape exactly. The finished impression will curve its way toward the eardrum. The eardrum will be at the end of that impression. Pretty straight forward.

Raudrive is correct. If you get the soft earmolds, it will stick to your ear canal and you won’t need to use that 3M plastic device.

I agree, too. When earmolds are necessary, as for better isolation for moderate-severe/profound hearing loss, the shapes of the tubes/wires are largely irrelevant because of the fit of the earmold.

With domes, however, torsion from a tube or wire that’s molded for a different direction can turn the dome in an inappropriate direction or work it out entirely.

I have an appointment for jan 2 2020 to have ‘slim fits’ made for me as Phonak calls them. But that means a total isolation of all natural sounds. I don’t know if I want that all the time. I only need it when I want to listen to television or music. But I’ll give it a try. Thanks for all the input.

They should be able to add vents to they molds for you. Your hearing loss is close to my loss, and I wear hearing aids with 2mm vents and I can still hear the environment even with my aids muted. So ask about it when you go for your appointment

Edited

In reply to @wntmldrs

For losses worse than 40dB at 2000Hz, I recommend custom earmolds. This will increase the amount of gain you are capable of receiving, as well as reduce the risk of feedback. Depending on the size and shape of the ear canal, and the degree of loss, you can request that the company make the vents on the molds as large as possible to allow natural sounds to filter through and to reduce the feeling of being plugged up. My guess is, if someone were to run Real-Ear Measurements on you right now, it would show that you are being underfit (far below recommended prescriptive targets for the amount of loss that you have). This is exactly why running at the fitting appointment are so important. Your provider would have seen that you were underfit and could have worked to address the issue before letting you walk out of the door. I would request that they run Real-Ear at your next appointment. Good luck to you!

My worst frequency is at 2k and I have a 2mm vent. I also wear custom aids. If I went back to MiniRite or aids I would still have to have custom molds.

In reply to @haggis

@haggis said:

When earmolds are necessary, as for better isolation for moderate-severe/profound hearing loss, the shapes of the tubes/wires are largely irrelevant because of the fit of the earmold.

I agree, haggis that that is the way it should be, but I have to tell of a bad experience about a year ago when I still had my previous hearing aids and we were trying to improve them by getting custom earmolds which, among other reasons, I expected would solve the problem with the receiver wires sticking straight out from my ears at a 90 degree angle.
At that time I was told that Costco was working with a new earmold company called Westone and went along with it, but when the earmolds arrived, the right angle of the receiver wires were NOT imbedded inside the mold! Instead, only the very tip of the receiver was inside the mold and couldn’t be pushed in further. As a result, my wires then stuck out even further from my ears, at a 90 degree angle! I tolerated those things for about a week or two, and then removed and replaced them with some tips I bought from Amazon which absorbed the whole right angle bends and allowed me to push them all the way into my ears.
So I certainly cannot recommend that company, and with my KS9s I have specified that I want Phonak SlimTips.

@NateS said:

At that time I was told that Costco was working with a new earmold company called Westone and went along with it, but when the earmolds arrived, the right angle of the receiver wires were NOT imbedded inside the mold! Instead, only the very tip of the receiver was inside the mold and couldn’t be pushed in further. As a result, my wires then stuck out even further from my ears, at a 90 degree angle!

Insane. I feel your pain.

Seems like there’s a lot of irresponsible “going through the motions” at various levels in this industry. I hate to think of how I’d fare if I were 20 years older and not an engineer.

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