Question
I am trying to locate some sort of soft earpieces or inserts for people who wear hearing aids while participating in sports. Do you know of anything on the market that would reduce the risk of injury from a mild blow to the ear? I hate my hard acrylic earpieces when I am playing ball!
Answer
Dear Sports Enthusiast!
Acquiring a soft earpiece for your hearing instrument should not be a problem.
The choice of the material will depend on the hearing aid style you use. If it is a custom in-the-ear hearing aid, the aid's shell can be made from a soft plastic such as vinyl, or medical grade silicone. If it is a behind-the-ear instrument, the earmold can be made from one of the above materials, and also from a soft acrylic or polyurethane foam.
It would be proper if you contacted your hearing health care professional to discuss the material that would be the best for you. While presenting you with the options, the professional will consider additional factors such as the type of your hearing loss, and your age. They can also recommend an earmold lab that would make the earpiece in the color of your jersey, or even make the mold with the team's logo.
Mr. Pirzanski, Process Engineer at Starkey Labs Canada Ltd. has extensive experience in analyzing hearing aid fitting problems. His research has led him to introduce new shell standards that measurably increased Laboratory productivity. Through research on impression techniques and materials Mr. Pirzanski developed an alternative impression taking method that has greatly increased impression accuracy and customer satisfaction with hearing instrument fittings. Chester Pirzanski obtained his degree in Electromechanical Engineering from the University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH), Poland.
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The characteristics of the sound environment have a fundamental impact on the performance of the hearing aid user. In this course, we will describe the obvious and sometimes more subtle aspects of sound environments that will affect hearing aid performance.
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'Very informative and pragmatic presentation regarding the importance of incorporating a subjective evaluation into the hearing aid fitting process'Read Reviews
The final judge of the success of a new fitting will of course be the patient, and the criteria that they use may not always be in line with an objective audiological measure. This course will review some of the issues and options at play when having the patient weigh in on the value of the new devices.
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As most hearing care professionals know, the functional capabilities of individuals with hearing loss are defined by more than the audiogram. Many of these functional capabilities fall under the rubric, auditory wellness. This podcast will be a discussion between Brian Taylor of Signia and his guest, Barbara Weinstein, professor of audiology at City University of New York. They will outline the concept of auditory wellness, how it can be measured clinically and how properly fitted hearing aids have the potential to improve auditory wellness.
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Every patient wants to hear better in noise, whether it be celebrating over dinner with a group of friends or on a date with your significant other. Roger technology provides a significant improvement over normal-hearing ears, hearing aids, and cochlear implants to deliver excellent speech understanding.
