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Anyone find hard acrylic earmould more comfortable than silicone?

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I am doing OK considering in the past I had issues with earmoulds but the only annoying thing is that my earmoulds keep moving when I eat, smile/laugh, etc. When I had the impressions done I did ask if it could be a soft mould, not rock hard but unfortunately it was rock hard but I did not say anything because I had enough of wearing domes! At my last appointment I brought it up and she said to persevere with the hard mould, they are the best ones but I want something more comfortable. I am thinking asking Boots or Specsavers because the wait time is over a month! Surely hard acrylic should not be trying to come out of my ear whenever I smile, yawn or open my mouth wide? Would changing material affect how much sounds the hearing aid can trap into my ear? I have my old earmoulds which are soft acrylic, but the vent is larger so not sure if I can use those while I wait for newer impressions to be made IF the NHS decides to do it for me or I pay private elsewhere.

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I wear and absolutely love my full skeleton acrylic ear molds. They are very comfortable and stay in place. But it haven’t had the silicone ear molds to compare.

Dont get me wrong half of the time I forget they are there but as soon as I need to yawn or something they start moving about, tickling my ear hole then I have to get them out quick to itch :laughing: not many appreciate the squealing noise while I am doing it lol.

My More1 aids don’t have the feedback issues. And to be honest the full skeleton ear molds take a little more effort to take out or putting them in.

It’s funny you should post this. I had a silicone mould for the past 18 months or so. It was getting somewhat ratty so I ordered another at Costco. Originally got blue, decided on clear just for a change. Picked it up today and it’s acrylic. I was a bit surprised. They said if I wanted the other just say and they’d order it, but I decided to try it out. Had it for half a day so far. I like it. I think a little more than the silicone. It’s a little sore, but the other felt the same at first. It’s a good fit.

More to follow… :slight_smile:

I’ve never tried acrylic but I’ve heard it’s easier to use with “older ears” with softer cartilage. Silicone ones are a bit “squirmy” when inserting, but became easier after getting a light layer of ear wax on them. I had mine remade several times trying to get them not to back out. Even with pretty big concha locks I had issues that I finally solved by orienting the concha lock differently so my ear pushed up on it to hold it in place. If you don’t have a conchal lock, I’d get a mold made with one. If that doesn’t work, I’d play with theh orientation or try a skeleton mold.

I’ve got all of 48 hours experience with acrylic moulds. So far, so good. My audi got me to push them in with my pinky and that seems to work. When she took the impression, she pushed in so hard I feared for my eardrums but it seems to have produced a good mould.

Silicone ear moulds make your ears more sweaty.

Silicone ear moulds also stain with wax even if you clean them. It’s normal.

Silicone ear moulds don’t last anywhere near as long as acrylic.

Acrylic doesn’t do all of the above.

Everyone seems to be favouring the hard acrylic so I will stick with that then, also my ears sweat enough as it is cos I am in a physical job so silicone definitely not a good idea! I think I am probably too focused on it that is why it feels uncomfortable/it is “there”, if that makes sense.

That’s what I’ve read and here’s the odd part…. I went into smartfit to adjust them slightly (upped the power just a touch) and when I ran dfs (I forget what it stands for in smartfit - it’s the feedback levels) they were better with the new acrylics than the old silicone. Very odd! Still happy, although the end of a week or two will be more accurate.

@janofh

I’ve been told to re-run the feedback test every time you get new ear moulds as the fit is always a bit different.

Your hearing loss is a lot better then mine which is why you’re likely managing well.

Really depends on several factors as to acrylic or silicon molds being better.

Your hearing loss.
The accuracy of the mold taken of your outer ear canal.
The length of time you have given to become accustomed to the molds.

I have both and swap, I find the acrylic’s are good for listening to music or when I play guitar but they are hopeless if I am socialising. Eating with acrylic’s, I cannot hear anything so I wear the silicon’s, which are a lot better for socialising but you have to remember to turn the volume up one to two notches with the silicons compared to the acrylic’s as silicon does dampen volume. I am in the position however where I can safely replace my receivers (I really wish they would call them something else!) and mold combinations, and I realise that not everyone can do that.

The diameter of the breather holes also affect feedback, especially with the acrylics.
There is a lot of art to the making of ear molds for ’s, need to taken into account the acoustic properties of the material, the length and diameter of the breather hole etc.

@ian said:

but you have to remember to turn the volume up one to two notches with the silicons compared to the acrylic’s as silicon does dampen volume.

Are you sure this is true as silicone is suitable for profound hearing loss and not acrylic?

@Um_bongo is this right? Thank you.

Then I hope I never become profoundly hard of hearing, I can’t use silicone ear molds, my says I am allergic to the material.

Edited

In reply to @Zebras

Hi @Zebras, hope I have your question right.
If you only have silicons, or acrylics, then your audiologist should have set the correct volume for the molds that you are using. It’s only people like me that like to make our own lives a bit difficult by swapping between them that a manual volume adjustment is needed. A lot of the time I leave the volume as is because I’m still reading peoples faces, mouths, and body language anyway. For severe hearing loss, many do prefer silicons as there are normally less feedback problems with the higher volumes required.
A lot also depends on the amount of compression applied in relation to level, and frequency compression.
’s are so personal, hearing loss is so different between all of us.

@ian

You can’t select in the software that you’re using silicone ear moulds, can just select ear moulds, so I’m struggling to understand how silicone ear moulds can give you less volume?

This is for Aids.

I can’t see how a Aid can be different.

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