Custom Earmold (BTE) - Hard Lucite

*Custom earmolds are non-refundable*

A good Custom Earmold will greatly enhance your listening experience. Custom Earmolds are used with Behind-The-Ear hearing aids and Body Aids. They are the solution for many common hearing aid problems. In order to have a custom earmold made, we need to have impressions of a person's ears. We send out impression kit materials at no charge to our clients.  By selecting "Order Now", we will automatically send the home impression kit by first class mail.  All addtional accessories will be shipped with the finished earmold product via your selected shipping method.  We only bill for the finished product (impression kits only incur additional shipping/handling fee for orders outside the US).  Lloyds sends enough material for a person to do two separate impressions of an ear - that way a person can practice with the first one to see how it all comes together and how fast you need to work with the two-part silicone material.  The product photo is just one example of the style you can choose.

Making impressions of your ears is a very simple and safe process.  Tens of thousands of our customers have done this over the past 50 years with no problems.  It's good to have a helper - an extra set of hands - to do this, but it's not 100% necessary.

A Custom Earmold will: 1) reduce the possibility of feedback since a form-fitting Custom Earmold provides a better airtight seal in the ear vs. a generic ear piece (the 'mushroom' insert), 2) keep the hearing aid more secure in the ear since it will take advantage of all the curves and contours of the user's ear to lock it all in place, and 3) help reduce the occlusion effect.  Occlusion is where a person's ears feel "stuffy".  People describe occlusion as if they are talking in a barrel, an echo effect, or similar to having water in their ears.  It's the same effect you have when you talk if your ears are all plugged up.

We reduce the occlusion effect by having the custom earmold vented. A "breathing hole" or "channel" is drilled through the shell. This allows the chamber that's created between the end tip of the earmold and a person's eardrum to "breathe" - it's connected to the outside world. Sometimes too much of the volume of the hearing aid escapes out through the vent hole causing the aid to feedback/whistle/squeal. That's why we include a series of small vent plugs (they look like tiny little bushings and have different sized inner diameter holes in them) so a person can find the size vent plug that allows for "breathing", but at the same time constricts that outward flow of volume to a reduced point so the aid does not feedback.

Every new Custom Earmold has the plastic tubing already installed in it (for Behind-The-Ear aids). The plastic tubing is what attaches to the aid by slipping it over the earhook ('elbow') of the BTE instrument. This plastic tubing should be replaced at least once a year. It is called Curved Tubing and is specially molded for hearing aid and Custom Earmold applications. If you try to use straight tubing, it will crimp as it makes its right angle into the Custom Earmold and will block off sound from passing through.

If you find that your new mold does not fit properly, we offer a no-charge, courtesy remake of the product.  If new impressions are necessary, we will send you a new impression kit.  Please notify us within 21 days of receiving the mold if there is a problem, and we will work with you to correct the issue.

Custom Earmold (BTE) - Soft Silicone

JB1000 soft silicone molds can be created in many different styles, although styles with thin parts (i.e. skeleton style) are not recommended due to durability issues. The most popular choice is the shell canal style which is pictured, and this type of mold is best for severe to profound hearing losses although anyone with lesser degree hearing losses can also use a silicone mold. They are very comfortable due to the silicone material, however silicone can feel more dense than hard lucite so you should make note that you may feel more occluded (plugged up) with a silicone mold. If you use a high-power instrument (i.e. type with a #675 battery) or have a severe to profound loss, then we would recommend the silicone mold over the hard lucite mold. Use the "special requests" box to the right to specify any style, color, venting option, etc. you would prefer.