Hi i currently have moulds with a small vent but when i had domes i had closed I’m just curious if there is any difference in speech recognition with vents and without vents?
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I always have vent, Can not wear completely blocked vents, The audio says is better for hearing to have no vent but I can not take that blocked ear feeling, The sound of my voice is also bad . I found that speech recognition is the same for me,
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No vents will reduce outside noise while streaming and allow your hearing aids more control over what you hear (they won’t have to compete with outside sound that leaks in). Looking at your audiogram, I don’t even know if you wear a hearing aid in your left ear, but if you do, no vent could be appropriate. I would think at least a small vent would be appropriate in right ear.
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Another easy way to reduce outside noise while streaming would simply be to mute the HAs, But I agree that if you mute the HAs but still have a vent, then outside noise can still reach your ears through the vents. So a combination of closed vents and muting the HAs should completely reduce the noise while streaming.
Closed vents may help streaming music sound better in the low ends because the bass sounds would not leak out through the vents. But conversely, closed vents may make listening to music through the air (not streaming) sound worse with your kind of normal ski slope hearing loss in your right ear because closed vent will block out the low frequency sounds to enter your ears naturally and you won’t enjoy the much more limited reproduction of these low frequency sounds by the HAs since the receivers are so tiny and can’t produce good bass that your ears would be able to hear naturally through the air.
But the question regarding whether closed vents help with better speech recognition or not, I would say that for your hearing loss, in simple listening environment, probably not, because the high frequency components of speech that your hearing loss is losing out on should be compensated by the HAs already.
But in a very noisy environment, I would say that closed vents can help with better speech recognition because the noise won’t be able to enter through the vents to your ears naturally and overwhelm the speech, so the noise reduction circuitries from your HAs would have a chance to work better at delivering a filtered speech for you.
That’s why Phonak came out with the Active Vent receivers, so that you can have the best of both worlds for different situations. Remember that a permanent closed vent set up may cause too much occlusion to your liking to begin with.
With domes there is always some ‘effective venting’ and no one has a circular ear canal so depending on the fit it’s unlikely we have a perfect seal. With a custom mould we know the venting more precisely and should have better outcomes. Depends on the hearing loss of course.
Just based on your audiogram we need venting on the right so you don’t get occlusion but I wouldn’t suggest any venting is needed on the left.
I use no vent in my bad ear and it does help my recognition. Since my bad ear feels kinda plugged up without an aid, no vent doesnt bother me at all. I like a vent in my left ear because i get better and more realistic low freqs with the vent and it doesn’t seem to effect speech comprehension along with less issues in a noisy environment
@Danuta I just went through the no vent domes and wore for 2 weeks. OMG, they did not agree with me. It lessened my hearing. Way to plugged up for me. Went back to my Vented Domes. Much happier. I just could not hear with the closed domes.
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Thank you everyone i had closed domes but didn’t wear them for long because it was released that i was allergic to dome material so had to move to moulds. I have an appointment in November so may well ask then about getting moulds without any vents to try out and see if they work any better in very noisy environments
I had no vents molds for three days, could not do more, so put my old one on 
hate the plugged ear feeling,
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you do know that they take impression of your ear and when you do not like it, you have to order another set if you want vents . Good luck with it, I am waiting for my molds so long is start to make me furious
My take on this relates to your hearing aids feedback control.
If sound gets out of your ear canal, and is likely to create feedback, your HAs will automatically stop this feedback by reducing gain from those frequencies. These frequencies are generally the ones you need for speech recognition.
The more “closed” your ear canals can be should allow better speech recognition, as all the frequencies should be there. However, the downside is occlusion (that closed in feeling, and hearing your own voice really loud).
My compromise is slimtip custom moulds (RIC), with a small vent.
Peter
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I hear better without vents
Vents cause loss of low frequency sounds
@PeterH I currently have the smallest vent possible on my moulds and despite all the adjustments i have had made and the equipment i use with them ( Roger pen, clip on mic with neckloop) things still aren’t quite right in very noisy situations. They are much better than they use to be with the aid of devices mentioned above. I’m just at the stage of wanting to just give a closed mould a try just to see if it makes any kind of difference.
@LRav
I was exactly like this, until I changed Audiologist (and replaced my hearing aids - M70). I bought my new ones online (P90), to the new audiologist’s Audiogram. They arrived with closed domes (2 little holes). At this point, they were no better than the original hearing aids, as speech recognition was still poor. In meetings I still needed to take my Roger Pen or Roger On.
My new audiologist took impressions for slimtips. When they arrived, he spent a lot of time working on the compression for soft sounds, boosting higher frequency gains, but also reducing some lower frequencies. A lot of the time, he was fighting against Phonak’s software, as it’s feedback control wouldn’t let him, but he persisted. At no point did he run the feedback/real ear part of the fitting software. As a result, I rarely need my Roger devices. For meetings, “comfort in echo” seems to work best.
Since then, I’ve attempted to reprogramme my M70’s. They have full moulds with a 2-3mm vent. I’ve improved speech recognition, but not to his standard.
Changing vent sizes/moulds/domes will only make a difference if changes are made in the software.
Have you tried making custom programmes in the app? If you haven’t, try making one from maybe the music setting, and adjust the 3 band graphic, by boosting the high a little, but reducing the low. I have found this helps too.
Peter
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Put your finger over the vent when in a noisy area and see how it changes the sound.
That’ll give you an idea on how it could sound.
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I too have gone down the path, though always with custome ear molds. I have setteled in with .8 mm vents. You might try putting a toothpick in the vent for a testt to compare. It is true that the program should be changed if you go to no vent, but not sure how much that does. It is also true that only the lower frequencies are affected. At the end of the day, vents sound better and allow for breating.
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The software should match the dome or mold. You cant just stick a finger in your ear to test a closed condition. The software should be reprogrammed.
Also, my first molds had select-a-vent. Something like a 3mm vent hole that i could insert a sleeve into the vent that would allow for a 2mm vent or a 1mm vent, or plug it completely. But the software programming should reflect the vent size in my experience
Putting finger over vent will give an idea of how it sounds. Not will tell you how it sounds.
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Guys, I’m having problems to get the right vent size for my Signia Pure C&G 7ix
My Audiologist says that without vent would be best.
I CANT use them without vent, my voice vibrates inside my head. It’s like having a bucket over my head.
So finally I got vents, 1mm BUT the fitting software “recommends” 1.6mm or 2mm.
Even with 1mm I still feel my voice inside my head while speaching, like my ears are a little bit blocked.
My old pair of WIDEX CIC also have vents and they are perfect, I don’t even feel them when I speak.
So, should I do a vent size exactly as the software says?
Thanks