My left ear has a nasty hook in it, that makes fitting and insertion/removal hard, and I can rub the high-point raw if not careful.
I have to use the High Power receiver, and I assume that makes me need an actual ear mold, not one of the petal inserts? But is it possible to get a softer, more flexible ear mold, that will fit around the curve better without rubbing it raw?
Right now, my Audi shaved off the mold a bit, to make it fit looser, but, that means I’m continually pushing it back in.
Ow Avignon33, you have my sympathy here! My ear canals are not bent at all, but with age, (I’m 61) I find that I wake up with swollen ear canals most mornings. I live in a real dry climate, which is probably a good thing, but having spent October in Kauai, OMG. My ears were so puffed up from heat and humidity that it was about an hour before I could get them in every morning. Definitely not optimal.
It is precisely this condition - similar to your fit issues - that made me explore aids that are NOT hard plastic. My current aids are Oticon Agil Pros, . The hard plastic is not only more difficult to jam into my swollen ears every morning, but with heat & humidity, they extrude out, the material being slippery, too.
So I am determined to go a new route: with a soft, silicone dome. I also started my recent trial with a Widex tulip dome. It was SUPER comfy getting it in, but with my loss, I had simply too much leakage, which resulted in poor quality sound and feedback issues.
I am now in trial with Oticon Opn miniRITE BTE aids fitted with a LARGE Widex power dome (double-stack). I find these domes just a bit too big, and want to find a medium to replace them. I definitely think you can find a power dome that will work for you! No matter if these domes are vented, non-vented, double-stacked or whatever, they are flexible and will fill the opening of your ear canal to ensure a snug but comfy fit.
I also have to add that my initial receivers were LARGE on a pair of Widex Unique aids I tried. Those long sticks simply did not fit in my ear - too long, too thick (like a 2x4 stuck into a round hole). You may need to try out various manufacturers (Widex, Oticon, Phonak et al) to find the one who makes both a comfy-sized receiver AND dome combo to fit your ear. I have not heard of using different size receivers/domes in a pair of aids, but maybe that is possible, too?
I have similar problems with the “power” receivers for my Costco KS7 aids (which are very common, since they’re Siemens receivers). I can’t use the double domes, because the inner dome folds over the receiver and makes the whole thing to wide to go into my ears. Gaah. Like a 2-by-4.
I thought I might have to go with aids, but I find that if I use the single dome it’s okay (even though audiologically the double would be better for me). Also, I rub some good-quality skin cream into the outer part of my ear canals – i.e. where the receivers go – every evening when I go to bed. This helps a lot. (And yes to do that I use the personal-hygiene-product-that-cannot-be-named.)
