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How to make a hard ear mould work for my very bad ear? Normally I get crazy feedback

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I’m finally getting new ear moulds on May 10th! YAY!

I’ve got choose the colour so I’ve been looking at pictures on Google and came across this picture. I’m in love with the blue hard ear moulds as they are like see through or even looking like blue glass.

I’ve had blue soft ear moulds in the past but these blue hard ear moulds look way nice.

Is there anyway off making a hard ear mould work for my bad ear?

I normally get feedback so I actually wear a soft in my bad ear and hard in my right ear but I reaaaaallllly want these cool looking blue ear moulds.

No vent in my bad ear as well. Also my bad ear is always a full shell ear mould.

Any advice? Maybe a longer ear canal length?

(I have UK NHS Aids but buy my ear moulds from Boots UK. As my Aids are not from Boots, they literally order ear moulds from what I say I want. Basically what I’m saying is, I can’t ask Boots for advice on how to make hard ear moulds work for my bad ear. That’s why I’m asking here.)

14 people in this conversation9 min readJump to latest

I’d stick with what you know works. Just as I think people who are overly concerned about discreteness are shooting themselves in the foot, I think potentialy sacrificing hearing for aesthetics is also not wise.
That said, increasing strength of frequencyy lowering might decrease feedback. Good luck with whatever you decide.

@MDB

You are right on that.

I thought about it more after posting this question.

I would rather hear better with my bad ear then have a nice looking colour.

:slight_smile:

@Zebras said:

Maybe a longer ear canal length?

This proved to help me a bunch.

Could the hard mold be made bigger for the bad ear but still color match the good ear mold?

How do you get away with this!?!?!?!?! I have wanted colorful - yes, childishly playful! - aids for YEARS. It seems the audis in the US will only give you the staid BMW tones in metal: pewter, silver, bronze, gold, BLAH!!!

I wonder if I’d be allergic to those KICK-A$$ blue molds in the ear? I absolutely love the entire piece from back to front.

Well, my more practical idea would be to be SURE you get the impression for the bad ear done at a time of day when your ear canals are the most “normal”. For me, that is middle of the day. Also ask if chewing or remaining still during the impressions taken is best? If you’re getting feedback it means: 1.) the initial fit is a smidgeon too small, or 2.) that ear canal is more prone to contracting during the day. Maybe if you got the softie mold in the bad ear a different color? Like a WOWIE pink or something if you think the two shades of blue (soft, hard) don’t work together.

Geez, you’ve got a designer team working for you. Makes you want to wake up and put those puppies in the ears and seize the day. Hope you find a solution that works with these.

Bernafon does a formaseal earmold that isn’t quite as soft as silicone, but is still soft-ish. Its colours are sort of stained-glassy. Might work for you. They also do their NewSil molds in blue glitter, which might be your jam. (Starkey also has some nice glitter options.)

@1Bluejay said:

How do you get away with this!?!?!?!?! I have wanted colorful - yes, childishly playful! - aids for YEARS.

Pediatric hearing aids. Or sometimes once in a while the adult line will have ONE cool colour. Oticon had a lovely Royal Blue in the original Opn and Opn S that they have since discontinued. Unfortunately, I think all manufacturers have also ditched pediatric line , so you’d have to move to a .

I get very good feedback control and fit with silicone in-the-canal molds. Here’s a great article discussing molds for devices (but, I imagine, @Zebras, that you pretty much know all there is to know on the subject already! :slightly_smiling_face:, but maybe less experienced wearers who come across this thread will enjoy the article).

Earmolds and Hearing Aid Shells: A Tutorial Part 4: BTE Styles, Materials, and Acoustic Modifications | The Hearing Review14

I think my silicone molds are beginning to deteriorate a bit with age and I sometimes get feedback now in my left ear, particularly if I am wearing something on my head-I think the receiver gets pushed further into the mold and distorts its shape. So, I usually just turn the left ear amplification down a small bit (don’t know what the ReSound Smart 3D amplification numbers mean, ?) and it doesn’t affect my sense of hearing noticeably. Hopefully, sometime within the next year I’ll be getting new ’s and molds so I’m too lazy (and cheap!) to replace my old molds right now.

In reply to @Neville

Interesting options there!! I am pretty smitten with the Phonak line of aids … but despite my small, child-sized head, no one ever suggests (or seems to allow) colorful pediatric colors, LOL! If most makers have ditched this option, what do the kids wear now? I sure hope they aren’t forced to wear flesh-colored or BMW-colored aids. :woozy_face:

Kids all wear pretty much. Sometimes they swap into as they move into adolescence, but often not. And yeah, right now with Phonak it’s all BMW coloured RICs–since the M line.

l have silicone full shell ear molds and its irritating my ear so l have to use hard ear molds. The best hard earmolds are the Starkey ones. If aids are programmed properly and after feedback test then no more feedback issues until you get newer hard earmolds in two years or so depending on how often your outer ear change. l don’t bother with bright colors and try to hide my aids because many times the store cashier would start signing to me and l don’t use sign language. l tell the person l can hear without the mask.

I have custom domes made by Oticon. They are hard material and fit poorly even after several tries. Is there somewhere in US that I can get custom made HA domes for Oticon More that might fit better or possibly made from softer material?

In reply to @Terost

@Terost said:

The best hard earmolds are the Starkey ones. If aids are programmed properly and after feedback test then no more feedback issues

Boots (where I order from) do actually use Starkey. :slight_smile: That’s good to know. :slight_smile:

Hi All,
The aids in the picture kook cool, I agree along with the molds. The audi I have now is great and the only one that has been able to control feedback with my aids. The receiver and wire have been falling out over the past year. The molds are acrylic and full shell. After going to the audi about once a month for this, I decided to get new molds. In January, I managed to break the piece that helps to take the mold out, so I figured, it’s time.

In regards to the feedback and molds, it’s the audi that matters. It took a bit of time, but mine was able to stop the bits of random feedback I was having. Plus she was able to do this in one visit. The audi I ordered the aids and molds from with numerous visits couldn’t get it quite right.

As for customizing the look of your airs or cochlear sound processors, have you thought of looking at Etsy? Since I have one aid and a sound processor for my other ear, you can find things to dress either up. I have flowers and charms, mostly for my sound processor. Take a look over there (obviously can’t help with molds).

Edited

About the colour
I made hard ear molds from epoxy-resin in the past. It’s transparent, but you can add any pigment you like. (So any color you would like or any mixture of color.) There is no degradation of the quality of the mold. If you can get a lab interested to do it, it is really easy.

E.g. I used 2-component silicon paste to make a mold of the ear-molds given by the audiologist and then added a bit of French lacquer red1 to get them reddish. (After that I made molds from my own canals and then decided that those were more comfortable than the hard resin casts, so I stopped making canal molds, reverse molds and epoxy resin casts. :slight_smile: )

As for feedback-reduction
Why do the soft molds work better against feedback for you?

My audiologist complains about the low frequencies leaking out and wanting to go towards full shells. The high frequencies leaking out would mean that I have a hole between my canal and mold: Normally the mold bounces them right back… However, I only know about those high from my mothers aids which go towards 120dB loss. But even for her they are blocked without an outer shell. Did she just get lucky?

About the info
What info do you sent to Boots UK? Where did you get it?

@Markismus said:

Why do the soft molds work better against feedback for you?

Way better seal and more appropriate for a severe to profound loss.

@Markismus said:

My audiologist complains about the low frequencies leaking out

Low frequencies are known to leak out from the vent.

@Markismus said:

What info do you sent to Boots UK? Where did you get it?

Boots fill out a form like for everyone else.

I just say I need.
2 x full shell soft silicone ear moulds.
Rating of 40 shore.
No vent on left. 1mm vent on right and so on……

Does that make sense?

Well I’m off to get new ear moulds impressions today at 7:45am. In the UK, it’s 6:30am.

A day later then planned as I ended up having a 2 hour meeting yesterday so had to reschedule,

I still haven’t decided on the colour but I am going for soft ear moulds, I’ve decided.

Took a very long time to get the new ear moulds so they gave me 2 x pairs. The fit is amazing! I normally have bad luck with ear moulds and there’s always someone wrong with my ear moulds but there’s are really good.

I told the Head Office how well the audiologist did at taking the impressions.

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@mr.smithster

Might be due to your type of hearing aid? I have no idea.

I’ve only ever worn hearing aids and for severe to profound, they recommend silicone as it seals better.

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