Tubes

plasticdinosaur

plasticdinosaur

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So I already asked one person this, and now I'm curious if anyone else can weigh in.

My hearing aids have thin tubes on them and full, soft ear molds. But the thing is, I HATE the thin tubes. They bend, and change color, and dig painfully into my ears. Plus I can't find the tubes mine has online, so I have no way to change them without an office visit. Uhg.

I've been having a lot of trouble with popping sounds, static, and just all around poor sound quality and feedback with these new hearing aids that I've never had with any before. And after reading that someone else has noticed an improvement in sound quality from switching from thin tubes to normal size tubes, I'm starting to wonder if this is the root of the problem. Does tube size really affect sound quality?
 
It must. Those thin tubes are supposed to be for mild to moderate loss. I think they are supposed to be more comfortable.

If they won't work for profound loss, that should mean that the regular thick tubing is better at conveying sound.
 
The thicker the tubing the less likely you are to get feedback, if that's any help.
 
Absolutely correct. I just learned that not that long ago. So when I order mine online, I look for the double-wall or double-thick (#13) tubing.
 
Just make sure your moulds can accommodate thick walled tubing before buying any. If your moulds are for thin tubing you'll probably need to get new ones with a bigger hole.

I find that I need to get new moulds about every twelve months anyway, because by then even the thick walled tubing starts slipping out of them and if you're unlucky you might lose a HA.
 
Yeah, I know for sure the thick tubing will not fit. I was just debating on whether I should shell out the money for new molds earlier that is necessary, or just suck it up for another six months or so. Uhg. So expensive, but an increase in sound quality may jest make it worth it...
 
How much do you pay for molds? I think mine were about $60 last time around.

I mean, it's not nothing, but it's not really an amount that would make me think "so expensive."
 
My last set of molds came free because I was getting new hearing aids. Lol, I suppose they wouldn't break the bank, but I'm a poor college student. 60 dollars is like two weeks or more of groceries for me. Lol.
 
I think you were fitted with these latest hearing aids that come with thin tubes, did you?, they used to be for moderate hearing loss or so, they would not prescribe them for severe to profound hearing loss but things changed in the last year or 2 and I myself bought one of these, latest Oticon in 2010 and, the good thing about it is that they are small hearing aids with thin tubes and tiny molds, you get better sound quality if they are fitting right but if you have profound hearing loss and the audi is inpatient to work with you and if you have to keep going back and forth for fitting, changing mold and stuff then this will be a nightmare, I had 2 of these, one was fine, the other one needed so many back and forth and would give me feed back that come with no certain things like moving my head or whatever, it drove me crazy and I had to pay for 3 other molds but it kept same for around a year up until I had my CI to that ear and that was it, never wore a hearing aid even in the none CI ear, ugh how much I hated these stupid feedbacks and the tubes changing, mold changing, fitting and these back and forth not to forget the $$ you keep paying even to replace the tubes (the older thicker tubes) every 2-3 months.
I feel for you, my advise is go check if you can get some good hearing aid (if you can return the one you have now) that accept the thicker/bigger type of mold with that big tube not the thin one, trust me, these thin tubes are not for you if you have severe/profound hearing loss, you are still college student and you don't want the fancy stuff that comes with high price, not now, get something that will keep you going until you graduate and you get a good job and may be then they will have a better technology for you, good luck.
 
I have a reverse slope hearing loss that's severe in the low frequencies, but becomes moderate in the high frequencies. Almost mild. They said my high frequency hearing loss was not so bad, so that's why they gave me the thin tubes.

I can have a tone hook on my aids, they came with a hook for regular size tubes. The aids with work with either, so really it's just a debate between paying for new molds with regular tubing or dealing with it until I need a new set.
 
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