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Ear impression taking risk & injuries

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I am interested in the experiences of people who have unfortunately received injuries during ear impression taking and their road to recovery. I note in a previous thread that a dispenser was still nervous about taking impressions after 10 years-yet there is little information on when things go wrong or what that entails. 3D ear scanning is available & would seem to minimise any risks. I am also aware that some people seem to take their own ear impressions which seems very high risk. With some of us having a lifetime of this procedure, it’s something we can all take for granted as part of the necessary process. Would be good to hear from patients and also those who take ear impressions.

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I think risk is pretty minimal if care is taken. Costco experimented with 3D ear scanning and had more returns than they did with ear impressions so they stuck with the classic method.

Using Lloyd’s Hearing I did my own impression probably 6 times.
It was a painless process that really didn’t give any reason to be concerned about hurting myself.

I have been wearing aids for about 20 years I can’t remember the number of impressions I have had done. Really don’t know where you get the information about people being injured. Every audiologist, hearing professional, or hearing technician I have had doing the impressions knew what they were doing and have always explained what I should do, and now they can do 3D imaging where nothing really goes in the ear canal.

Certainly there is some risk of injury, as with all procedures. Any time an instrument or substance is introduced into an orifice, there is some room for error. The little bit of foam that goes in first could get stuck or harm the eardrum instead of protecting it, the mould could create too much pressure and cause pain or be difficult to remove, chunks of the impression material could be left behind causing injury later, the syringe used to make the impression could injure the ear, and infection could be introduced due to unsanitary equipment or supplies, etc.

I would imagine most injuries would be more likely if the ear was already in a fragile state to start with, either due to pre-existing infection or foreign body (hence why audiologists use the otoscope to check before proceeding). And it stands to reason that home earmold impression kits would carry a somewhat higher risk given the difficulty performing any such check on oneself.

Google returns some studies on this topic. But it doesn’t seem particularly risky in the grand scheme of things, assuming a reasonably skilled/experienced practitioner.

Having said that, I would try a 3D scan if it were available as I don’t find the traditional process particularly pleasant.

I have been wearing aids for 20 years, and have had impressions made every time I got new aids are new ear molds. So have had at least 10 sets of impressions done. I have also done volunteer work at my clinics for over 10 years and talked to hundreds is not thousands of veterans that have had impressions made, and I have never heard of a single person say that had any I’ll affect from having impressions made.

The medical literature shows that such injuries may be relatively rare but do indeed occur despite your personal experience:

Taking an ear impression seems relatively simple; however, when incorrectly executed it can have adverse consequences for the patient. Symptoms of otalgia, tinnitus, vertigo, and hearing loss due to the molding procedure are suggestive for iatrogenic damage.42-7 In ears with pre-existing tympanic membrane perforation or ventilation tubes, there is a higher risk of deposition of mold impression material in the middle ear.4

Once referred, there are no guidelines on how to approach this complication. The literature shows different clinical strategies, varying from blind removal in the office to different surgical approaches. There are three papers on this topic with a literature overview of symptoms during or after the procedure, hearing outcome, surgical approach, and complications.51-7Verdam et al suggest a useful flow chart for the clinical approach. It emphasizes on whether or not to perform imaging.5

Clinical Approach After Complicated Ear Mold Fitting: A Case Series of Six...4

Insertion of mold material into the middle ear is a complication of molding procedure for ear impression. These cases are referred to an specialist. There is no standardized approach to this problem. Literature shows different clinical ...

The most common complication was the entry of mold material into the middle ear cavity. This frequently occurred in patients with a preexisting perforation of the tympanic membrane, although traumatic perforation occurred in 5 cases. Spread of the mold material within the middle ear cavity was frequently extensive, with 46% of cases involving the eustachian tube. There were 6 cases of ossicular chain involvement: encasement of the ossicles in 5 and extensive ossicular erosion in 1. The extent of the surgical procedures performed varied widely, ranging from simple removal of the foreign body in the mastoid cavity to tympanomastoidectomy with a facial recess approach and ossiculoplasty. In 50% of cases, the patient recovered without any complication. However, further hearing loss was observed in 36% of cases.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000348941212100804?journalCode=aora3

Thank you for providing this information on the topic which is interesting to read. Ideally injuries would never occur but unfortunately (as with all medical procedures) sometimes it does.

There is very little information out there to help those who may experience it-& for others to learn from those situations. The goal would be to eliminate the risk as far as is possible, and help provide relevant information to those who have been affected.

[Complications Resulting from Taking Ear Impressions] - PubMed16

In 2012, we carried out a study in a large sample to understand the secondary injuries caused during the taking ear impressions for hearing aids. This study is a follow-up of previous research conducted in 1986 (285 medical institutions) and 1999 (98...

In reply to @greg.smith

If I was paranoid about everything that I have had to do to make my life better I would been either dead are curled up in a closet hiding my head. I am 75 years old, I have spend 8 years in the Navy doing things I really don’t want to experience again and other things that I have fond memories of. I grew up on the farm, being chased by 2000 pound bulls, wild animals including panthers. Life is what you make of it. Every day is a challenge and an adventure make the most of, and stop worrying about wha could happen to the one in a million.

Perhaps you misunderstand my comments. I am not “worried”. Rather, I am discussing information which differs from my personal anecdotal experience.

By analogy, would you conclude that because you have not been hit by a car, therefore nobody is hit by cars (and furthermore, clearly nothing needs to be done about pedestrian deaths)? My preference is to base my view on studies and, where possible, reliable statistics.

I see most everything that you see on the internet, from today’s media as a scare tactic to keep people upset and scared of their own shadow. Anything and everything I see on the internet and airwaves today, can be disproven by some other research found on the internet and airwaves. It all depends on what you want to believe.
Sure our roads and highways are dangerous and getting worse by the day. But I am not going to stop checking off items that are in my bucket list. It is always in the back of my mind that an accident could happen. That is life.
I am 75 years old I could die at anytime, but I smile every day because the fact I have had a full life, and accept for my hearing loss and eyes I am extremely healthy. Hack the have never been in the hospital and never had a broken bone. No surgeries of any type.

Had my neck fused with titanium rods and 8 screws, my lower back fused with titanium rods and screws a new left knee and a right hip replaced just from living. If I had read studies and looked at YouTube to see what could happen I probably be sitting in a wheel chair with an attendant. I am with you Chuck, every day is a good day to just live some more. Had to have new ear molds when I received my new Oticon Real aids and it was no big deal. Now I am sitting here waiting for a hurricane. It is part of living in Florida.

In reply to @ssa

Can you say much more than complications occur in less than 1/30 impressions, in your personal experience? Even if this were a representative sample, the incidence of complications from this data could be as high as 3% if we suppose that your next impression were to go awry (which I hope it will not, and it likely will not).

I suspect the actual rate of complications is in fact much lower than 3%, but it’s remarkable to see the attitude “it hasn’t happened to me, so it’s not a thing” so pervasive here.

It’s perfectly reasonable to weigh small risks against the benefits and proceed accordingly in order to realize those benefits. But why insist that studied, demonstrable risks simply don’t exist, rather than acknowledge that you accept those risks? This is something I’m curious about.

My personal IMPRESSION of this topic is one of DEPRESSION!!!
Obviously, we wish to discover, and share information regarding all aspects of hearing loss, and ways to gain better understanding of speech, and music, etc., but I really hope no one reads this thread and gets discouraged about obtaining earmolds due to a fear of the impression, they’ll suffer ear damage from the impressions.
I’m impressed with @cvkemp Chuck’s remarks, because I’ve also had several impressions done at the , and never had an issue.
The end result is the benefit we gain by getting custom earmolds which enhance whatever amount of hearing we have, Right?
I see no more danger in the proceedure of obtaining impressions than having an ear cleaning by a qualified .
@rgilbert I hope your hurricane warning turns out like Hilary, here in SoCal.

In reply to @greg.smith

30 wins in a row suggests lower than a 3% complication rate. I don’t think anybody is saying it doesn’t happen, but from the data we’ve seen, it’s pretty clear the incidence is pretty darned low. It also sounds like many of the complications involved somebody of pretty low competence. I can’t imagine anybody competent taking an impression on somebody with a perforated ear drum or with ear tubes. It sounds like nearly all the complications could be prevented by looking in the ear first (which is standard practice). If you want to look into this, more power to you. I don’t see the value though as incidence is obviously pretty low and if one is concerned, one can get scanned.

Exactly if it safe to stick your pinky finger in your ear without issue or without pain, you are fine and dr checks your eardrum before they put into your ear.

In reply to @Raudrive

As my mom use to say “Your Lips to Gods Ears”. We are 35 miles inland and after living on the water in Miami for 40 years we are almost as safe as it gets. Generator and 500 gallons of propane should at least keep the lights an air conditioning going. After 1992 and hurricane Andrew at 164 MPH (Cat 5) hitting 20 miles south of Miami you just prepare as best as you can. Thank you @flashb1024.

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