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Domes domes domes

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Edited

My new hearing aid practitioner assures me that I need Power Domes.

I became a client about 9 months ago. Here’s what has happened since then.

  1. He took the dispensing Audis hearing test values and did a quick fit. I heard better! A lot better. He said there were 2 mistakes. Left hearing aid wasn’t talking to the right. Wrong domes. Phomak said power domes in Target. He boosted mid and high frequencies too

  2. He did his hearing test 6 months later. Said my hearing was 10 to 20 worse now. Confirmed this in two following visits.

  3. Changed Receiver to power receiver

I just changed back to Vented Domes. My hearing aids sound better.

I don’t understand!

8 people in this conversation13 min readJump to latest

I would say from looking at your that you would be better off with custom ear molds.

I know. And appreciate you saying that and it was Neville’s advice too

My first ever hearing aid was a Widex in the ear. It was made twice. Last time it hurt and every time I used it I took it out when I was stressed. First time it was made it squealed when I ate and chewed. I had it a long time. Didn’t like it at all

That’s my experience. I hated it

Edited

In reply to @DaveL

I have been wearing aids for 19 years, my first 2 sets of aids were aids, which i really liked, my 3rd set were MiniRite aids with domes, I hated the domes, the domes cause my ear canals to break out with rashes. When I managed to get custom ear molds i was a happy camper. I have switched back and forth over the years between ITE and Minirite with custom ear molds. I was told by the that did my first impressions for my aids to move my jaws like I was eating, which I did and do, and I have always gotten very comfortable ITE aids and ear molds.

Thanks. I thought I had responded. I’m sorry.

When I go home praising a change I get grilled. Was it my suggestion?

Every time I visited the dispensing Audi I’d say how good he was. A gentleman. Very generous with his time. I’d be told. You can’t hear. When he asked me to leave I was distressed.

But I know very little about my hearing aids. I still feel there’s something missing in the setup. And it should be easy.

I think there needs to be changes in how they are setup. I’m volunteering to help. Focus group? Trials of best equipment? I’m here. I believe hearing aid users can solve issues for hearing aid companies. Improve product and communication.

In reply to @RSW

No . I hadn’t had REM since I left the dispensing Audi. He always used it during his hearing test. But his setups were terrible and I couldn’t hear

In what way did the vented domes sound better?

Did they affect your speech recognition?

Why not try power domes to compare what is most important you, how things sound, speech recognition, or comfort, occlusion, or …?

Being willing to try what the practitioner recommends is tied with respect and being open minded to looking at these issues in a different way. Of course, your opinion on what you like best is very important.

In reply to @DaveL

My audiologist is a professor of audiology at the state medical university, and also my audiologist. He has taught me so much. My hearing loss is a case study for his students. I volunteer at the VA clinic to help others with getting their aids, or connectivity issues. I have taken up learning what I can about my hearing loss and hearing aids. It helps that I am a retired IT professional and Electronics Technician/engineer with my strongest point of being a troubleshooter. I am 76 and still learning daily. I was told as a child that any day that I didn’t learn something was a day waisted. I read on average 100 books a year. I read what ever i am interested in at that point.

In reply to @DaveL

Your hearing loss needs double domes or earmolds.
Earmolds would probably be best.
You are at that break point from domes to molds.

It’s an eye opener point of hearing loss.

In reply to @Justme

Thank you!
Yesterday was a terrible day for my hearing.

I had trouble understanding in the car. Radio was loud. Music was awful
I changed . At work. Shut my office door because I was trying so hard to hear. We are a noisy bunch. Cafeteria was noisy. I changed to a saved program mid morning

After I put vented domes on the hearing aids sounded more normal to me. I’d used power domes for about 8? Months.

In reply to @cvkemp

I value your suggestions highly. Thank you.

Frankly I’m exhausted trying to make these work.
I’ll call and make an appointment

It’s been two weeks since the last app. They changed receivers to power receivers then. They sound better since I changed to vented domes last night.

For some when their hearing loss gets worse the need for better acoustics (ear molds) can be surprising. It was for me.

When your lower frequencies get into the 40 DB or worse range it’s typical to move towards ear molds for better feedback control and gain at the eardrum.

A comment here really helped.
2 weeks ago the hearing aid practitioner put power receivers on my hearing aids, and added sports locks and put the power domes on again. I had the power domes for the last 8 months or so. Change? the sports locks.

I took the sports locks off. I’m happier today. I think that the receiver was held closer to the eardrum with the sports lock on. I think without them that they stay a little further out. Overthinking? Don’t know.

In reply to @cvkemp

Last time I saw the hearing aid practitioner, he

  • put power receivers on
  • put sport locks on the receivers
  • made minor adjustments

Last night I cut the sports locks on the receivers off. I think that they held the receiver deeper down my air canal.
today things seem a little better.

Thanks for your comments and support.
DaveL

In reply to @Raudrive

I never liked domes, and pretty much begged for ear molds. Ear molds make a world of difference in speech understanding and speech in noisy environments.

Hi Dave, Ken here… I have always had custom vented ear molds, the speakers (in the ear) are 2P types, since my loss is severe, making the molds is critical for good fitting, over the years I have had to redo the right one a few times, the ones that I have now with my P70’s are just right with no feedback, unless I put my hand over the ear, I hear a VERY small amount of squealing, my Audi says it’s ok like that. After a few adjustments, I took the App and adjusted the default startup to what I wanted and saved it as new, like listening to my grandfather clock gongs and ticks, I live in a very quiet environment, I even jump when my Rotty booms at a a passing dog from the back deck (200m away). The mod’s that I made, I showed them to my Audi last time for a 4th adjustment (I think) and we put them in the default startup, since then it’s been pretty good all around, I still complain about the neighbors making to much noise with their grass cutting gear, add those leaf contractors blowers in there, for that I switch to one of my custom programs I made in the App. Just thought I’d pass that along. My wife has real good hearing and also complains about the loud lawnmowers. In a family of 7 kids, 5 have have hearing issues, 2 have ’s, my father was stone deaf at 60, go figure. I am tuning 78 soon, so I don’t complain about that, at least I can hear pretty good most of the time, take these off and total silence except for my tinnitus.

@kgmgpm
Hi Ken.
Same age.
Live in the flightpath of Toronto airport. It’s noisy.
I saved a program. Used it the next day. Started at 9:00 am. Finished at 4:00 pm with dead batteries. Both hearing aids. Normally I barely get to 10:00 pm.

Hearing aids are 2-1/2 + years old. They’ve never been setup right. But they’re getting better.

This morning I cut the new sports locks off. It made a difference. I think that when I put the hearing aids on they stayed way in my ear.

I have new Power receivers too. I have volume -2 right now in auto. Hold my ears over my ears and very little feedback.

I don’t quite have the same loss as you.

DaveL

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