Custom Ear Molds Material?

That is true I did implement that in my profile now.

They did give me pushback, but I brought all my medical records with me. At first they were like you don’t need hearing aids your hearing is really good, but when he read all the documents he was like ok ya you need them. So yesterday I went back to Costco to get the molds and the dispenser person apologized to me stating that he was sorry for judging me. But I told him it’s ok.

Sorry missed the other details. Tulip domes don’t work for me they hurt my ears and they slip out a lot. The 2 type of domes that work for me are Phonaks Occluded or Vented and Starkeys comfort occluded bud. As for APD exercises that won’t help me much because of the other issues. I would have to tackle all at once. I do know how to fix the tensor tympani and stapedial myclonus issue I just don’t have the money and health insurance won’t cover it, because the doctor is out of network for me. They told me they can go in and cut the muscles that are spasming. But going back to Costco they are going to make me a silicone mold I will tell them about the locks as I think those would be helpful. With the non custom molds I was wearing the retention tails and those work. Reason for the custom molds is I am trying to make them more occluded to block out sound. Hearing my own voice or the plug up feeling is fine for me.

Just my opinion but I didn’t like the Oticon Intent 1’s they didn’t work for me, but Phonak Audeo Infinio I90’s sphere or non sphere and Signia BCT IX are really good. With Signia they combined both the chip of Signia and Widex.

That is understandable. The Phonak Virtu I90s, I heard, is really good. I was interested in it as well, because it’s easier, but I thought the vented receiver was important. It’s great that you’re pushing through. I will need to review it more.

@Deadman42, although the post below concerns titanium ear molds (silicone ones would probably be better for you), there are some common rules, especially with the open-jaw technique:

@Bimodal_user said:

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Source:
Advices before purchasing titanium cShells / titanium earmolds - Hearing Aids - Hearing Aid Forum - Active Hearing Loss Community

Read and note about the necessity of obtaining a deep ear impression in order to create a deep-placed earmould and avoid the occlusion effect.

If you have APD with normal tonal audiogram, the coming NAL-NL3 fitting algoritm (used with REM) will be probably the best option for you.

NAL-NL3 new news from NAL Director in LinkedIn - Scholarly Articles, News, and Other Resources - Hearing Aid Forum - Active Hearing Loss Community

The Virto can have venting, but it might be limited in effective venting versus something like a hollow mold?

Oh wow just read the open and close jaw impression. Ya the Costco person had me do a close jaw impression.

@Bimodal_user said:

The earmold impression is a key. It should be done deeply with the end at least 5mm past 2nd bend of ear canal. Ask for impression with open-jaw technique. In that you have to put 2.5cm bite block between upper and lower incisors and then hearing aid specialist perform silicone injection. No talking during silicone curation and still with bite block until removing the silicone impression.

It would be good to has two impressions:

1. With mouth closed since silicone injection to its curation (no talking!!!)
2. The mouth is opened with a bite block before the silicone is injected until its curation (no talking allowed!)

Costco had ReSound (I think) make my acrylic molds with curved hooks about 1 CM long. I haven’t had any problem with retention in over a year.

Just for the record, unless they’ve changed their policy, Costco will remake the molds at no extra charge if they don’t fit.

Wouldn’t it be hard to take a reliable and repeatable impression while moving the jaw? How soon do you start, how quickly does the impression cure, how much do you move your jaw, what is the patient’s ear anatomy, and many other factors might vary. It might work out ok for you but that doesn’t mean it will work for others or that it’s best practices.

What do our pros here have to share about getting better impressions and open/closed/moving/combined impression methods?

I don’t know the exact time, but some where between I believe 5 and 10 minutes. I move my jaws like I am eating with my mouth closed. I will even talk to help it. I have done it this way for at least 8 times over the ladt 20 years. The key is comfortable fitting ear molds. If you don’t move at all the usual results is your ears hurt. And the ear molds slip out of the ear canals. If you are getting soft ear molds it probably doesn’t matter, but I have always gotten hard shell aids or ear molds. And if hard ear molds they can hurt like the devil if too tight.

Yes, they are doing that with me on my custom ear molds.

@cvkemp said:

I have had that problem in the past and actually do with my present ear molds but my present ones are full skeleton ear molds that are held in place by the external part of the molds. But that has it’s own issues with irritation and sore spots.

I have that problem with a mold for one ear (Phonak Naida Link M HA). I have an implant on the other ear. My audi ground a little off, which helps but I still have a sore spot. I’ll see her for a tuneup this week and hope she can grind a bit more off.

Hopefully, you can have an adjustment for comfort.