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RIC earmold type

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Tell me about your earmold. Ive had two. First was made by Phonak for a Micropower V. It was acrylic but made such that if the receiver broke it had a door you could open to replace the receiver in the mold. That hearing aid and mold lasted 15 years and I replaced one receiver (not that I had to it, still worked but the plastic wire covering was cracking and thought it was best to do preemptively). My new aid which I purchased 2 Year ago is a Resound Key (which IMHO I way overpaid for) needs a reciever replacement already. For some reason they molded the receiver into the mold so the whole thing needs to be replaced which will require a week vs an i n office switch. Dumb design or money grab…IDK. Anyway how is yours made (especially those who went to Costco). Thinking of just getting 2 new aids there which should be better than the Key I have now and not paying the $250 for new receiver and mold (to have it happen again in 2 years) or should I just insist the new mold/reciever is in office replaceable?

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I recently got c-shell molds for my KS 10s. Costco was not able to get molds which allowed receivers to be replaced in them, but the molds were only $40 each and came with brand new receivers. So, not a bad deal…

My receivers are embedded in the custom ear molds for my Oticon aids. For the More and Real aids the wire can be replaced without needing to replace the receiver, but a bad receiver requires a new ear mold. The INTENT aids are a new design and the receiver and mold have to be replaced together for the power receivers but for the other receivers the receivers can be replaced without a new mold. And the material is acrylic.

Well not impressed with gnresound reciever/ear mold. First it lasted 2 1/2 Years unlike my Phonak which lasted basically 15. Second, dumb idea to not make the receiver in office replaceable (again unlike my Phonak earmold) because Third, I’ve been waiting 3 weeks for a replacement and while I “get by” with only one sided ear, far from ideal. I’ve struggled through two concerts and two holiday parties with one ear. If they would have made the receiver/mold in office replaceable this wouldn’t be a problem but on top of that why the heck is it taking 3 weeks. I think I’m done with GN resound.

I am fortunate, as a veteran with a severe hearing that is military service related, the insures that i have a working backup set of aids all the time. My custom ear molds do have the receivers embedded, it is just the way it is. The few times i have had to send aids in for repairs they have been back in 10 days.

Oticon embedds the 100 and 105db receivers now.

Have you tried soft silicone? My favorite molds aren’t even made for hearing aids. They’re soft silicone and were made to snap onto Airpods for increased noise canceling. While messing with them one day, I looked at the hole and realize my Phonak S receivers looked like a perfect fit. Getting the receiver in and out requires a bit of fiddling, but it’s not difficult.

I use Phonak Custom Slimtips.

They are acrylic and basically hollow. The Receiver (or slim tube) pushes in to them. They are vented.

My Audiologist preferred the idea of the Custom C.Shell (no slim tube option), where the receiver is fully embedded in the mould. He said: “They are fully embedded to allow more gain and reduce feedback”.

I didn’t like this idea, as I suspected I’d get more occlusion, so stuck with the slimtips.

Peter

The receiver inside of the embedded shell is wired in by hand rather than just using a standard receiver. It generally allows more freedom of design because the receiver block can be moved around. This may allow it to fit in an ear that otherwise would not fit, may allow more venting and as PeterH says, more feedback control. It may lead to a more attractive fit in the ear. It is often required for anything higher than a moderate power receiver.

The removable wire, on the other hand, can be replaced in the office.

So, not a money grab, just different choices. The OPs right ear probably cannot be adequately fit with a removable shell.

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