Ear Molds

Hi! I've always had silicone ear molds. I am getting new molds because my Mom's dog ate my old ones Now that I'm looking at my options, I'm thinking about getting the skeleton ones. The maker I'm looking at has a hole for reducing feedback, which I really like. I've never seen a skeleton mold in person, so wanted to see what everyone's opinions were on them. Thanks in advance!!!

I have two canal lock molds. I like these molds because of no feedback. The canal lock and semi-skeleton earmolds look the same shape, but the semi-skeleton has upper corner near the tube.

The less frame silicone is better because soft mold contains a little toxic that absorbs in the skin, but more air space on your ear.

By the way, a hollow canal earmold is risk of germs inside hollow like Staphylococcus especially if it cut the skin.

The hard acrylic skeleton moulds are typically indicated for those with mild-moderate hearing loss (not sure if that helps you decide)

FWIW, I've had both - I started with the skeleton moulds because that is what my audie recommended it for my type of HL (and I didn't know that all I needed to do was ASK for a silicone instead)...

Personally I find the silicone moulds MUCH more comfortable and that they have much less feedback issues.

With the skeleton moulds, because they are acrylic (hard plastic) they tend to have more feedback issues (even with a large vent). Also if you sweat or it's hot/humid the skeleton moulds "slip" in your ear and can rub sores in the canal or parts of the outer ear which can be very painful. When eating or moving your jaw a lot (ie opening wide like yawning, or at the dentist etc) the acrylic skeleton moulds can't compress at all ... so you often get either feedback/ sound issues, or the mould "slips" when you move your jaw (even if the mould goes deeper into the canal that "typical").

The last time I got new moulds, I got 2 , a silicone and an acrylic skeleton... I THOUGHT I'd use both types all the time, but it's been 2years and I STILL haven't even taken the acrylic skeleton mould out of the bag it came in because the silicone is SO much better and more comfortable.

IF you do decide to try the acrylic mould and get the larger vent, make sure that you book an appointment to have your HA re-adjusted when you go to pick up the mould as the mould material and size of the vent (hole) changes that quality and the volume of the sound ... so you need to have that adjusted. Personally I really prefer the comfort AND sound of the silicone moulds - by a LOT.

(If you order the acrylic instead of the silicone mould, I'd make sure that your audie has the mould company send your impression(s) back - so that if the acrylic doesn't work for you/in case you want to order a silicone you don't have to pay the impression fee again)

Hope that helps

If it were me, I'd stay with the silicone unless you had a really important reason to switch

But you forgot the most important part......what color are you getting?

webexplorer said:

soft mold contains a little toxic that absorbs in the skin

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That's worrying! Never heard of that before, where did you get your info?

well I have a full shell earmold which was recommended for my moderate/severe hearing loss but it works for me!

skeleton mold? idk it might or might not work for me lol

Thank-you very much for your advice. I went ahead and took the leap of faith and ordered skeleton molds. If they don't work out I'll just order silicone ones, no nig deal. Oh, and I ordered purple, my FAVE color! I have the pink/purple flower ear gear covers, so they'll match perfect!

What is a skeleton mold?

ryancher said:

What is a skeleton mold?

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I'd like to see a pic of one as well, since I think you need a long ear canal in order to use it.

this is what a skeleton mold is and looks like

Yeah, it's like what Alicia posted. It has an area missing from it to make it a bit more comfortable to wear, but has all of the necessary parts to hold the aid in place and do what a mold is supposed to do.

I wear TransEar aids. I'm deaf in my left ear and have mild hearing loss in my right ear. I have chosen to wear all parts for the left aid, including the tubing and mold, in order for both ears to look the same, even though those parts are not needed, since all the left aid does is recieve sound and transmit it to my right ear. So I can use skeleton molds according to my Audi, since my "hearing" ear is only midly impaired.

I had full shell acrylic earmolds, but had to get tan silicone ones, because when I smiled, laughed, or ate, the acrylic molds caused sounds to leak by. When the sound leaked by, I couldn't hear anything due to the background noise leaking by. The silicone earmolds move with my ear canal, and completely seal my ears. I love them so much. Wish they were clear, but I am getting used to the tan. They look like the ones in the picture.

I thought SMALLER vents decreased feedback, not larger. Larger vents would allow more sound to leak out therefore increasing feedback. Or so I thought. Thats why the worse your hearing is the smaller (or absent) the vent is.
Thats what i thought anyway, please correct me if i'm wrong.
Thanks,
*EQL*

evil_queen_lisa said:

I thought SMALLER vents decreased feedback, not larger. Larger vents would allow more sound to leak out therefore increasing feedback. Or so I thought. Thats why the worse your hearing is the smaller (or absent) the vent is.
Thats what i thought anyway, please correct me if i'm wrong.
Thanks,
*EQL*

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I believe you're right. I have no vents in my earmolds due to my bad hearing. I may also be due to what freqs the loss is worse in...I'm bad in the low freqs as well as the high freqs.

evil_queen_lisa said:

I thought SMALLER vents decreased feedback, not larger. Larger vents would allow more sound to leak out therefore increasing feedback. Or so I thought. Thats why the worse your hearing is the smaller (or absent) the vent is.
Thats what i thought anyway, please correct me if i'm wrong.

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You are quite right. I've never had vents in my earmoulds. I would imagine if I did they would whistle constantly, I only have to touch them to adjust their comfort and they immediately whistle.

AliciaM said:

this is what a skeleton mold is and looks like

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That cool aid with matching earmould.

deafdyke said:

But you forgot the most important part......what color are you getting?

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How do you get different color molds? I have seen them with kids at my daughters school do they make them for adults? I was never given the option...

Ask your audi. I had blue/white swirls in the past.

Some materials are not availabe in colors though. My current audi suggested a material for me that would last longer than others (shrinkage-wise) but alas does not come in colors. So I now have clear (vs "fleshtone", the only other option) earmolds. I "dress them up" with hearing aid charms.

Here is one website that shows colors available.

Earpiece Materials & Colors | Westone

LoveBlue said:

Ask your audi. I had blue/white swirls in the past.

Some materials are not availabe in colors though. My current audi suggested a material for me that would last longer than others (shrinkage-wise) but alas does not come in colors. So I now have clear (vs "fleshtone", the only other option) earmolds. I "dress them up" with hearing aid charms.

Here is one website that shows colors available.

Earpiece Materials & Colors | Westone

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Ooo Thank you! I will email him monday morning!!

that is surprised wow! that is nice!