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Cookie Bite Hearing Loss: What is the best hearing aid?
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Oct 16 12:26pm | Replies (39)Comment receiving replies
Let me clear up what molds are trying to achieve. I have them and opted for them because domes never stayed in place. I found that I was constantly pushing them back in even with the small plastic extension on them. Because the ear canal has an oily surface, the domes would tend to slide back a little and this changes the distance between the speaker and your eardrum, reducing the volume. Very annoying.
Molds hold the wires in place better because they conform to the shape of your ear. There are 2 types - rigid acrylic and soft flexible silicone. I found the latter to be excellent and consistent in delivering sound that doesn't change as I move or talk. The hard ones are IMO no better than domes. Microsonics makes the soft ones and you can get them in all crazy colors and patterns. They can also be clear. Be aware however that with time they will stain and become more opaque (see attached pic)
To order them you need your audi to make a casting of your ear and canal which is used to make the mold. It is important to get the same depth for each mold so the distance to the ear drum is the same. This might need to be tried more than once.
Hope this helps.
Replies to "Let me clear up what molds are trying to achieve. I have them and opted for..."
My current trial with molds has not been a success. I was OK with domes for 12 years (now in mid 80s with moderate to severe loss and word recognition scores of 48 and 60.) but a son who also has hearing loss (from loud noises I think rather than age) encouraged me to try molds. I have hard plastic ones that are perfectly comfortable and certainly make everything louder but voices are strident and my understanding is worse than with domes. I got some free backup aids yesterday which have domes and coming home wearing them rather than the molded aids meant that I could understand the car radio which I couldn't with the mold set up. The assistant doing the REM for the Oticon domed aids said she had set them up at the highest volume with no further adjustment possible. The hearing aids are fine as a backup and I love the way voices are back to normal sounding for me so I asked if there were more powerful hearing aids that I could buy. She said yes but I would like more information on how you know the "power" of hearing aids if anyone could educate me. Is the the receiver that is different? Thanks
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@jcech344 Thank you for sharing information about ear molds vs domes. The advent of domes allowed hearing aids to be fit more easily and with less skill from the provider. That is not all bad, but it changed the game a bit.
Casting an earmold is similar to casting a dental inlay. It takes skill, and when it is fit on the person's ear it likely will require some adjustment by filing it down a bit, so it fits perfectly. Some people seem to have allergic reactions to the material from which a mold is cast. Same for the material that domes are made from. If that happens, it's important to ask the provider to recast it in a different material.
This is a place where there's a major difference between prescriptive hearing aids and those purchased over the counter. Every ear canal is unique to the individual.