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Fingers in ears

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I had molds with Resound aids a few years ago. They were acrylic, with a canal lock that looked like a wing or appendage on the mold. That lock fit into the bottom on the exterior of my canal. Every time I smiled my ears would push up on the lock and cause the molds to back out. I think molds without that lock would have stayed in for me, but reverted to domes which worked just fine. What works for some doesn’t work for all.

@jay_man2 said:

Every time I smiled my ears would push up on the lock and cause the molds to back out.

Never heard of that happening, possibly the locks weren’t made correctly, as in that lock was a bit short, your ears move the mold moves with it (well for most people anyway) but as you say everyone’s ears are different, you should try the skeleton lock, it would be impossible for that to back out.

I have no locks on my Molds, and no need either… Getting them out can be a struggle, as the pull string is tiny, sometimes they feel as if they are welded in :rofl:

My experience is similar, except that I’ve noticed a marked improvement in lower frequencies if I put my nail on the end of the plastic bit that the domes fit onto. Presumably this is creating a better seal with the ear canal by pushing the domes in slightly further.

When I first got my around 3 or 4 years ago I tried direct input shoes for music listening but the results were terrible. My tests indicated that I was getting very little below 250Hz. I don’t want thumpy bass but I’d at least like to hear the tenor part in choral music!

My HAs are Oticon Spirit Synergy (NHS issue) with 10mm vented domes. I tried 12mm domes and they gave barely any improvement and felt tight in my ear canals. A couple of years ago my audi fitted me with ear molds but they were incredibly uncomfortable and by the end of a week were making my ears sore. And they weren’t any improvement either. (I’m pretty sure the fitter didn’t leave the compound in my ears long enough to set fully - or they mixed up my impressions with someone else’s.)

I have a hearing review in a week or so’s time. Should I try the molds again and expect (and demand) a better result, or am I simply up against the limitations of free issue NHS hearing aids?

(Incidentally, my solution for music was on-ear headphones with a home made equalised headphone amp, which works very well - see https://www.instructables.com/Equalised-Headphone-Amp-for-Hearing-Impaired/3)

@philip.leriche said:

I have a hearing review in a week or so’s time. Should I try the molds again and expect (and demand) a better result

Without seeing your , it’s hard to determine if you need earmolds, but I’ll venture to say if you get well fitted ones, you’ll never go back to domes.
The secret to a good fitting earmold is to keep your mouth open while the gunk is setting so the ear canal will be at the best position for the earmolds to fit properly.

They may take a little getting used to, but a product like Miracell pro ear will keep your ears comfortable.

@philip.leriche said:

my solution for music was on-ear headphones

You are definitely very advanced to be able to follow that EQ amp instructable!
My easy remedy was Over Ear headphones (Sennheiser 6XX).
The ear cushions cover the mics so the Music program used on your Oticons will deliver excellent sound.
Actually any decent Over the Ear cans will help

@flashb1024 said:

I believe all the 3D printed earmolds are sealed receivers.

Yes, but you can switch back to the receivers you have in your ears now. Easy switch, but you should change the settings in your with the audiologist’s SW in doing so.

WH

In reply to @SpudGunner

Yesterday as an experiment I decided once again to try 12mm domes on the grounds that if fingers in the ears made an improvement then the 10mm domes probably weren’t sealing in my ear canals. As before, they felt a little tight. I could perhaps get used to that, but worse, my ears felt occluded, and eating crunchy toast while trying to listen to the radio over my breakfast, I could hardly hear anything over the sound of chewing.

So are occluded ears and noisey chewing an ineveitable consequence of good fitting and acceptable lower frequencies?

(My is reasonably flat up to 1kHz but then drops off. Above 3kHz I have practically nothing.)

Edited
@philip.leriche said:

So are occluded ears and noisey chewing an ineveitable consequence of good fitting and acceptable lower frequencies?

@philip.leriche: Let me tell you about my one and only experience with occlusion. As I have posted elsewhere, I started to wear hard acrylic moulds 16 years ago. They gave me very good performance, and very good acoustic coupling up until recently. As I get older, I find that I am losing body fat, and my ear canals have changed shape.

I was no longer getting the tight acoustic seal from these molds of mine that I was getting previously. I discussed this with my audiologist, and he took an impression and sent away for a new pair of molds. What I received back was what Oticon calls Mini Fit Power Molds, I believe . They have my usual 100 speakers in them, but they are made of clear acrylic an are of a different shape than my old molds. The new ones project farther into my ear canal than the old moulds used to. The improvement in my hearing has been amazing.

I have a much louder acoustic signal delivered to my ear with these new PowerFit molds, and sounds are much crisper and more distinct. I can make out the consonants and soft sounds a lot better with these molds, than I did previously.

But back to occlusion. When I first took delivery of these molds, my experience was just like yours.

At first I found that chewing was tremendously loud, and I could hardly stand the loudness of my own voice when I talked. But within two or three days everything settled down, and I became used to it. I didn’t have to have any adjustments done: I just let my brain do the adjusting. I am very happy right now with the performance that I’m getting from my More1 hearing aids and these new power molds. They are excellent. I could not ask for a better.

I may, however, be getting a pair of Real hearing aids if the DVA accepts my request for early replacement of my hearing aids, because I have no spares at the moment. I will post on this if it develops into something concrete.

As for occlusion, to answer your question directly, yes, I think that your experience with chewing is normal, but I think that if you are patient and just keep wearing the new molds for a few days, you’ll find that your brain takes care of it, all on its own.

As usual, this is only my opinion, and your mileage may vary.

In reply to @flashb1024

@flashb1024 said:

The secret to a good fitting earmold is to keep your mouth open while the gunk is setting so the ear canal will be at the best position for the earmolds to fit properly.

HMm; I had not heard about this before and I have had 4 or 5 custom molds in the past. All of them would work themselves out of my ears when I chew/eat, so I always reverted back to open domes. Maybe I will give custom molds another try?

I guess im fortune in one aspect, that in my bad ear i have so much loss that it always feels occluded. So using a mold with zero vent is a non-issue for me.

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