Power Domes HURT!

Totally TRUE that a custom mold prevents that matchstick receiver from poking the ear canal, but alas! I have found that the older I get, the more my ear canals swell up (and go down) throughout the day. I wake up, and can not jackhammer a pair of hard-case custom molds in my ear canals! I have to be up and about for a couple hours before they seat correctly (so there’s lots of “WOOOoo_WOoOoOO!” going on with feedback).

The one thing that steered me to RIE aids is that a soft dome conforms kinda, sorta to my swollen ear canals, enabling me to put them in right when I wake up every morning. In my dreams, someone would come out with a custom case that is sort of flexible like maybe high-temp silicone? I’m clearly dreaming here …

This might sound strange, but have you tried having them make a mold with your mouth wide open? I was having all sorts of issues until I did that. I thought the audiologist was joking, and boy was it uncomfortable to keep my mouth wide open for however long it took to set, but it’s more comfortable and I don’t have the issues I did before. Might be worth a shot.

Yup! I’ve had molds taken with mouth OPEN, while CHEWING, and with mouth closed (different aids, different audiologists over the past 30-odd years).

I think for me it’s a daily swelling issue I have to contend with. Almost like having a pair of leather shoes that only fit from 9-5pm, and then when your feet swell at the end of the day, they start to pinch! For me, it’s early morning when my ear canals are swollen, and then they go down as the day progresses, so I get situations with my hard case aids where I can’t fit them comfortably in my ear to begin with, but one of them will get leaky-squeaky by day’s end. Hence my dream for a case made from material that gives a little - like a silicone spatula type material.

I also have to say that among the silicone domes out there, some fit my ear canal better than others - even tho they are flexible! The Phonak Audeo B domes I have on now fit much more comfortably than the Widex power domes I’ve been wearing. (O’course, this is also a function of the receiver size, shape and curve - it it has one).