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Reshape Receiver Wire on RIC HA's?

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Edited

is there a simple homemade means to slightly reshape the receiver wire on Receiver in Canal Hearing Aids?

I am interested in having the aids hang slightly tighter on the front side of my ear bay hanging slightly lower on the back side of my ear.

The adjustment I am trying to make is slight - a shorter receiver wire would accomplish the same thing - but for me a shorter receiver wire is too short.

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You might look at this thread. Though I have not heard about anyone who was thrilled with the results.

Reshaping ReSound RIE receiver wires
Has anyone been able to reshape ReSound receiver wires? A couple posts in other threads have discussed using a hair dyer to heat up the receiver wire and then reshape it. Oticon shows a detailed description of this process in some of its product manuals, but I have not seen anything specific to ReSound. I have the KS6, which I am assuming uses the same receiver wires as the ReSound Linx. I have tried heating the receiver wire with a hair dryer, and even with hot water (with the receiver wire…

I tried it a few years ago but I could not get it to make much difference.

One thing I didn’t like about the KS8’s was that the longest receiver wire was still too short and the body of the hearing aid was too high on my ear. I was told I had the longest wire.

The Phonaks fit my ear better but I’m still having trouble getting a mold that goes in far enough that the wire is against my head and not sticking out with a gap. I’m waiting for a call right now to hopefully go in today or tomorrow and get the latest mold attempt. Not real happy with the situation currently.

I’ve used the hairdryer method with success. You need a third hand, so figure out a way to hold the hair dryer. It is helpful to use the cone type attachment that usually comes with the hairdryer to direct the heat. Don’t overheat. The key is to hold the heated wire in the desired position until it is completely cool. Then wear it and hope it doesn’t return to the original shape overnight.
The Audi uses a heat gun of some sort. My wires always require a tweak.

IMG-0538 I bend this little curly cue in my receiver every morning and it seems to stay all day up against my ear

In reply to @Mago

I used the hairdryer method and for about 3 days I thought I had solved the problem; but by the third day the bend had returned in all its blazing glory.

What is really aggravating is that this bend at the receiver end of the wire is in direct contradiction to the image displayed in almost all advertisements for hearing aids. There is always a photo accompanied by words to the effect of “Look, our hearing aids are nearly invisible!” and the reason is that, in the photo there is no such bend! Instead, the receiver wire in the photos does NOT project out at a 90 degree angle but instead lies FLAT against the ear as it slips stealthily along the short path up to the point where it slides BEHIND the ear.

Now show me any hearing aid in real life whose receiver wire lies flat against the ear as it leaves the canal! I’ve never encountered a single one! No, instead they all seem to project out at a 90 degree angle from the canal! And that 90% seems to be permanently embedded into the memory of the receiver wire!

@NateS said:

Now show me any hearing aid in real life whose receiver wire lies flat against the ear as it leaves the canal!

My wife’s does.

Mine does. But only after I switched from a size/length 3 to a size/length 2.

Edited

Oh lots, but the patient needs to be able to get the dome into their ear far enough.

That would require jamming the domes in for the full length of the first bend!
And for those whose canals don’t allow that, or who wear molds, it’s just tough luck?

Yeah, pretty much. With the right domes I’d say that most ears will allow it, it’s more the fingers that are the problem. With molds, you can get the labs to set the wires pretty flush, but for some reason you really need to badger the labs to do it. I’m not sure why they don’t aim for it from the get go. Secondly, you often need to go to an encased mold, which practitioners and/or users may disprefer because if there is damage to the wire or deep debris in the speaker it needs to be sent back to the lab for repair, rather than being fixable in the clinic.

In reply to @NateS

If I wear domes I push them in until the bend goes straight up against my head. I’ve had molds that fit like that too but battling that with my new ones.

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