Domes/tips don't maintain position in ear canal - solutions?

Hearing Direct sell them for £16 for pack of 2. I’ve just checked they are not sold in pairs but either right or left. Therefore I am forced to buy 2 packs to make 2 pairs - great marketing by Oticon.

@KeithL said:

I tracked down a pair of medium vented Oticon Grip domes. The audiologist gave them to me FOC and recalibrated my HAs for the new domes.

I was only able to find small and large. Is there a trick to positioning them so the single vent faces a certain direction (up or down etc) in your ear?

I think they are only available in small or large. I incorrectly wrote medium above; they are small. There’s a left and a right. The edge of the dome is shaped so that when fitted to the receiver the lips look parallel as viewed from above. The vent should be below the receiver.

I had trouble hearing in noisy environments too.

First change==I followed the advice given here and went from open domes to closed domes. I had already tried power(?) domes. They were extremely uncomfortable.

Second change==Phonak Audeo Paradise P90’s. I discovered the Dynamic button on the APP. going to the soft end with my hearing loss was really helpful. Confession. I didn’t know it was there. It was off-the-screen on my iPhone.

Third change==With help from here again, I tried a program that HofH people could use when the speaker was wearing a mask. I found it made a huge difference. I had the changes programmed into my audiologists programs and it really helped for speech in noise.

@KeithL said:

The edge of the dome is shaped so that when fitted to the receiver the lips look parallel as viewed from above. The vent should be below the receiver.

thanks for this - i so wish I knew what you meant. Any chance you could post a pic of proper placement? for example, I don’t know what you mean by “lips” and also, “viewed from above” -“above” could mean a few things when viewing hearing aids. I have a pair of these and don’t want to abandon them without knowing I tried them on properly.

Thank you so much!! Ok, so the vent is on the very bottom, (touching or close to the table) obscured in these two pics by the receiver. Correct?

@KeithL said:

Correct, the vent is on the bottom, below the receiver.

Wearing them now…a few questions remain (and thank you, I really appreciate your help!)

1. do you find that the dome itself, even when you have it pushed way in, still remains close to the entrance to the ear canal (like you can almost feel the edge that’s furthest from the wax guard and speaker with your finger)
2. because the wax guard is right there at the end of the dome (instead of recessed somewhat), does it get clogged with wax more often?
3. the vent, when properly fitted, ends up in the bottom part of your ear canal, correct? and is meant to allow some natural hearing to pass?

1. Yes, the edges are close to the entrance of my ear canals.
2. I’ve not been wearing them long enough to answer this question.
3. That is how the audiologist fitted them.

Domes have never worked for me. I am very comfortable in custom molds, which I used for my RICs and now for my standard BTEs.

@Raudrive said:

Make sure your domes or molds are clean as well.

do you use anything on the domes themselves to clean them? alcohol etc? thanks

Yes I did use alcohol to clean domes and earmolds. This wasn’t done daily, maybe e once every few weeks but cleaning my ears in the shower everyday with soap and rinsing out with the shower.

For me this improved the holding power of the domes and earmolds.

@user172 The Grip Tips seem to need so much more tugging to get them out than domes so I am bothered about breaking a receiver wire. I do find the Grip Tips comfortable for all-day wearing.

After a week of wearing them I am still amazed that the GripTips are still maintaining position in my ear canals. An early problem has been that I’ve managed to split the right one because the fit is so tight on the receiver. Phonak receivers must be slightly larger than Oticon. I’ve ordered new ones at £22 for two pairs inc post.
They weren’t in the post this morning. I may walk up to the local audiologist (my audiologist doesn’t stock Oticon) and see if he’ll sell me a GripTip. I cannot accept another FOC pair from him.