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Domes, earmolds, and wires

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@saburman said:

I can not quite visualize how the click sleeves can
be inserted deep enough into the canal. The shape seems too wide to sit in the
canal.

They come in 4 different sizes. I tried the XS, Small, and Medium, and decided on the Small. On the XS size the vent comes out the side of the sleeve.

image

In reply to @Sierra

@Sierra said:

I have forgotten. Is your fitter Costco? If so they probably

Unfortunately, not Costco. It’s Kaiser Permanente. But I’ll ask them about Rexton/Signia sleeves.

@Sierra said:

The Rexton receiver is about 0.083" in diameter, in the area where they click into the fitting.

I happen to have a caliper here. I have a Phonak 3M receiver, and the outer diameter at the fitting flange is 3.25mm (0.128") where the inner diameter below the flange is 2.25mm (0.088"), so it sounds like they may be compatible.

@haggis said:

the outer diameter at the fitting flange is 3.25mm (0.128") where the inner diameter below the flange is 2.25mm (0.088"), so it sounds like they may be compatible.

They may work. The Rexton receivers make quite a firm feeling and loud click when they snap into place, and are also somewhat difficult to remove. You have to be very firm to get them out. Not sure if there is metal or some hard plastic in the sleeves that they “click” into.

Two observations:

  1. It looks like most users in this thread are using aids, while I am using large tube . But since I posted here before (Nov 14). I’ll follow up with this.
  2. It is evident that everyone’s ears are different. Different dome retention solutions work for different people.

My post: After making custom tube elbows, with a non-standard angle, dome retention was greatly improved, but not perfect. Using the same technique, I make some custom “S” shape elbows, which solved the problem for me.CustomElbows-S.pdf (102.4 KB)

@david3, you’re absolutely right. And whether it’s or , the geometry is extremely important.

I really liked your document and your custom modification.

What I finally found after weeks of messing around with oto-endoscopes and bending of the wires is that the retention works a whole lot better if your tubes/wires are naturally pointing into your canal. If they aren’t, the domes will keep popping out because the supporting structure puts lateral tension on them.

What pisses me off is that Phonak plays dumb about this, and gives me a single wire shape that is completely at odds with my anatomy. Even my audi wasn’t aware of this. It took me months to figure this out on my own.

Phonak evidently has a one-size-fits-all for geometry. We were fortunate to be in the one size that fit! :sunglasses:

However they do have different wire lengths that evidently all point in the same direction. My audiologist measured both of us carefully and the length and direction fits each of us perfectly.

I’m somewhere between the 1M and the 2M size wires and have bounced back and forth with them.

My fit of the wires is also dependant on which pair of glasses I wear. Some seem to fight with my hearing aids for space at the top of my ears. :thinking:

In reply to @TraderGary

OK FINALLY! I have tried heating, bending, re-shaping, anything to get my ear wires to lay FLAT so they don’t stick out like big loops catching on combs, fingers, etc.

Today I had a brain-fart! I simply twisted the ear wire ONE more time before putting the dome in my ear canal. Very low tech method, but it seems to make the wires lay FLAT now. From the side, you can see that the dome sticks out quite a bit - I don’t want to jam that TOO deep into the ear. It appears to give me a good seal right here.

Slightly angled view shows … NOTHING! No ear wire poking out like a goofy loop anymore.

Now, I may end up damaging the ear wire with that single extra TWIST before inserting the dome, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Wanted to share these shots here to give folks an idea. My audi didn’t want to take the time to get the aesthetics of the wire JUST SO for me. So be it! I’ll do it myself. :smile:

Side view Front view

here is a post of mine from last year on keeping receiver wires hidden…
I have soft molds and I put a little twirl on the receiver wire and it helps a great deal… the wire stays inside instead of sticking out for all to see

image

^^^^ Thanks for sharing that shot! I tried in vain to put little twists, bends, heating, just any kind of shaping of the wire - utterly useless! The wire has a “memory” longer than an elephant’s! It goes right back to the original shape in minutes.

In fact, a couple days into my nifty double-twist-and-insert strategy that I employed to get the wires to lay FLAT, would you believe that both aids would literaly FLIP up in the air like some kind of winged BUG and by golly that same 'ol stubborn wire would go right back to jutting out of my ear.

I didn’t even touch the aid at all! It would just HOP like it’d been swatted. It would lift up through my thin hair like “S P R O I N G !” And then land in the same old position, with the ear wires poking out away from my head. Oh well.

do different brands of ’s use different materials in making the wires?? I have resound HA’s and have 3 mp wires about once a week I would give them a little pinch to tighten the curl and they were good to go

about 6 months ago I changed from wearing domes to custom molds and where I had the twist is actually now inside the dome and that made a huge difference in the wires wiggling out… I’m retired but very active playing softball and tennis many days a week … I now put my HA’s in and they usually stay put all day

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