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Hearing Aid Tube Causing Pain on the Top of my Ear

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I hope I’ve chosen the correct forum for this.(I previously put it in another but was advised to try here.)
The problem I am asking about does not relate to any brand of aid (mine are behind the ear pieces), and probably falls anyway between audiology and medicine. I am hoping someone will recognise the problem and have found a solution.
Either way it can lead to hearing loss as I often remove the on that side to let the pain subside.
As my heading says, when I wear my left HA the tube travels over the top of my ear and frequently creates a pain in the area where it sits. (This does not happen with my right one.)
The pain usually becomes bad enough (my whole ear hurts and goes red) that I need to take the HA out, or maybe just let it dangle outside my ear. The pain is accompanied by a knobbly substance in the part of the ear affected.
I am not aware of there being any excessive weight being applied - the most would be the weight of the HA.
Any suggestions anyone?
Roger

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Do the tubes on either side sit over the same section of your ear? If the tube is too long or short it may be sitting a bit out of position. Or the mould could be forcing it to sit a bit out of kilter or the angle of tubing as it exits mould. You may be aware of all these things. Did it correlate with anything ie new mould or retubing?

Hi tinkyp,
Thanks for your response. If I check now by feeling where the tubes are passing over my ears I would say they are symmetrical but do not pass across at right angles, more towards the front on the outside (mould side) and more to rear on the side. I hope that makes sense.
This problem began when I changed from my old Siemens aids to these Phonaks.

It sounds like the new fit needs looking at. The dispenser should be able to look and hopefully tweak as necessary. Sorry I couldn’t envisage from the explanation above. It may help if you get someone to photograph each ear side with new fit & old fit to compare what’s changed visually. The tube/wire should sit towards the front of your ear so that it’s not pulling down on anything. It could be the length of the tubing (if it’s too long making it push down on ear) or the angle it’s fitting into the mould causing it to sit awkwardly.

It does seem as if it will be job for the technician. I can’t really see how it can fit any other way than it is now but she may have an idea.
Just thought I’d ask as I have always,in the past, managed to solve my problems with a bit of help from friends on here. Hey ho.
Thanks,
Roger

Are these behind the ear or receiver in the ear type aids?
Either way my guess is the tube or the receiver wire is too short and pulling down into the top of your ear.
Your ears might be a little different on each side and need different sized fittings.

@rogerinshoreham I have exactly the same problem, minus the knobbly protrusion in the ear. It is especially problematic for my left ear. I don’t have a mold, but a dome, and that is hard and can hurt the inside of my ear. The tubing is too long and loose for both ears, more so for my left ear. I find it does not contour very well to the shape of my earlobe, and wearing glasses puts more pressure on the hearing aid tubing, making it more painful.

This had happened to me the first time i got hearing aids. My problem was that the tube was too short and rubbed on the too of my ear. It was replaced by a longer one so it would stop rubbing on the top of my ear.

Exactly as others have said, the tube on the aid on the ear that hurts is too short. It’s trivial for the audiologist or hearing aid professional to change it. How they do it depends whether you have an actual tube or a wire between the bit behind your ear and the bit that goes in your ear.

Thanks to all three of you. It really seems to be simple mechanics! Because I can’t see round there I have been thinking that it is the tube the goes over my ear and of course it isn’t, it’s the horn that screws into the body.
So yes, a small - just a few mm - should help. Anyway it’s worth a try.

Just a thought for you feltham.denise (and I agree about wearing glasses), you can get some tubes from the audio department and experiment to get the length just right. You just need some small scissors because they come with the bend already made. It’s fiddley but not too hard. I should have thought of this for myself but I was fixated on something other than that.

Thanks everyone. If I find this works after a week or two I’ll report back to help anyone else.

Have a good day.

@rogerinshoreham said:

I have been thinking that it is the tube the goes over my ear and of course it isn’t, it’s the horn that screws into the HA body.

For your reference the plastic piece that fits onto the hearing aid body is called a hook.

Good luck with getting that aid comfortable.

Do they? Maybe it’s called a horn in France? I used to live there.
I need to apologise to feltham.denise because I was taking about aids and I now see she has the other type. Whoops.
Getting most things wrong today. But then I’m married so I am used to it!

I am testing my first pair of hearing aids and I am having the same problem (both ears). I mentioned this to the provider and I said I thought the tube that goes from my into my ear canal may be too short. No response on that so far. I found there was a soreness where the tube passes over the front/top of my ear. From what your responders have said it appears that there may be an easy fix by obtaining a longer tube from the supplier. Glad to see your post - thanks.

I hope it’s going to be the solution because I am having the problem right this minute. Sorry to hear you’ve got it with both ears. As I mentioned to a previous respondent (wrongly in her case) for us wearers it really is quite easy to change your own tubes and therefore make them whatever length you want. There are videos on youtube that show how and you can get pre-bent tubes that do the job. You may be in the UK (?) and have NHS aids (?) in which case they will give you them. Alternatively you can buy them from Connevans.

In reply to @rogerinshoreham

@rogerinshoreham said:

I need to apologise to feltham.denise because I was taking about BTE aids and I now see she has the other type

No, you were right, that’s what I have. The motor is behind the ear. I had a mold in the ear first, but it distorted the sound and caused pain, so the audiologist switched to a dome.

My problem is my right ear. The fit on the top of the ear drives me crazy. Can’t seem to get the right fit have been back many times. New molds, new wires longer and shorter. I just don’t know what to do anymore.

I had something similar in my right ear. Turned out to be a little lip at the top of the inner portion of my ear cartilage that was causing all the soreness using the default ear mold configuration. That small top part of my ear mold needed to be filed down and smoothed over.

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