Open fit hearing aids
Open fit hearing aids are similar in style to BTE aids in that a shell sits above your ear and a wire travels down from there into your ear canal – but that’s where the similarities end. Open Fit BTEs are much newer technology than traditional BTEs – the shell above the ear is much smaller and the whole aid is lighter.
The open in the name comes from the fact that the earpiece does not fit tightly into your ear canal – as is the case with traditional BTEs, CIC, ITC and ITE models. The earpiece of an open fit hearing aid is a small, soft rubber or silicone cap, which is much more comfortable than the tightly fitting earpieces of BTEs, CICs, etc. The open fitting earpiece helps to reduce the occlusion effect – but can be more susceptible to feedback.
The fitting time for open fit hearing aids will be shorter than other models because the audiologist/aid vendor will not have to take impressions of your ears to create the moulds. It is possible that you could visit an audiologist and walk away with a trial pair of open fits in a single visit whereas you would have to wait a week or more for other models to be delivered from the manufacturer to fit your ear shape.
This type of aid is normally suitable for people with mild or moderate hearing loss.
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Thanks for your good work. I am hard of hearing, I feel my hearing aid is not very fit in my ear sometimes. You helped me!
Would you reccomend open fit hearing aids for someone with profound high frequency loss in right ear and severe highfrequency loss in the other ear?
CMathes,
I don’t think you will be able to get an Open Fit aid powerful enough for your profound and severe losses.
If you haven’t already, I would suggest seeing an audiologist and getting a professional opinion on the extent of your hearing loss.
For profound and severe losses you are probably going to need a BTE model or possibly you might be able to get a poweful ITE type. My Starkey Destiny ITEs cover my severe loss, but only just.
Good luck.
Steve.
I’m grateful my Danalogic 6 digitals enable me to hear so I can do my job, but the rubber-bung earmoulds I have been prescribed are just horrible! Hot ears, and my own voice booming back through my head.
I am told that I can’t have open-fit because my hearing needs a lot of high-end boost, so the result would be feedback whenever I turned up the gain . I just wonder if there is a halfway-house in this: perhaps a traditional earmould, but with a small air-vent for comfort, and a filter in the vent so that high frequencies can’t escape to cause whistling. The Danalogics do have very good feedback control which ought to cope with a small residue. But my state audiologist gets fed up with my ideas, so I wondered what other people may have discovered?
…I don’t think you will be able to get an Open Fit aid powerful enough for your kind of hearing loss( severe or of profound degree), again it wont cover your degree of loss..a BTE will be the best fit, apart from this if u wana cosmetic appeal, can go for an ITE.. Starkey have come up with powerful CICs, if ur loss is just severe, u can go for a trail with that aswell..visit your nearest Audiologist for guidance
Hi, I have the same loss as CMathes, profound HF in one ear and severe HF in the other, resulting in a ‘ski slope’ audiogram. I have been trying the Naida VP but they were dreadful, so noisy and echoey, I think they were too strong for me. My audi suggested the phonak Excelia SP with an open fit, which I never thought I could have, due to my loss. However I have been delighted with the natural sound I am getting with them, (from what I can remember!!) I can hear traffic and footsteps etc, in fact all the noises that were so loud before are now so comfortable. I am still having some difficulty with clarity of speech tho’, I first had the ‘fit and go’ slim tube with domes fitted, and I found that speech was very quiet, last week she tried another type of mold, kind of like two domes one in front of the other, which seem a bit better, I find if I press them into my ears (very gently) I get a louder sound. I know there are several other types of fittings you can buy, i.e. tulip etc. and so I am wondering if anyone knows if I can buy them anywhere, maybe online, so I can experiment a bit at home, they are easily changed as they just screw onto the aids.
I do have the GN danalogic 6 from the NHS which are very strident, (but no one seems to know what I mean by that,but I am sure someone on this site will know?) and I was wondering if I had a word with the NHS whether they would be able to supply similar powered aids with an open fit, or do you think I am asking for the moon??
I actually just came on here to let anyone know that maybe an open fit will help with feedback etc, and I’m afraid I got carried away, I just found this site today and I am sure I will use it LOTS. Regards Linda
It is a mystery to me that in this age of small that there isn’t an affordable hearing aid. Look at mp3 players, and ipods etc. The technology is there to recieve information from a satellite and transform it to inexpensive speakers, buds I think they’re called. I have no problem with having an ipod-like device that I clip to my shirt or wear around my neck or put in my pocket that has a wire going to a bud(s) in my ear. This device could run on inexpensive AAA bateries since weight is not an issue and it doesn’t have to fit in/on my ear. If I had the money I would get with an engineer and develop this device that would sell for less than $50 – and still make a profit.
The internet is changing things fast. You can get hearing aids for 1/2 the cost of what you used to.
i think for your profound ear you can use one unitrons 360 and the severe you can use one next 16
Hello,
My sister lives in Italy and has been told that she needs an Open-fit hearing aid. She has deafness in one ear but has been told she needs 1 for each ear to balance the sound. She is also convinced that the hearing aid must be programmed by the company that fits it. It is enormously expensive in Italy and I would like to be able to purchase her 1 or 2 if needed in the US. Can she program it herself or if she has the audio report can it be programmed when purchased?
Thanks
To those with severe to profound high frequency loss but decent low frequency you absolutely can wear an open fit aid. I have profound high frequency loss both sides, but good low frequency. I was told for years that I could not wear an open fit aid. Therefore, I didn’t wear aids at all. I cannot stand the oclusion. I did wear aids to college though. Anyway on one of the forums for HOH, I heard about America Hears. (This is not an advertisement and I have no business relationship with AH) Anyway I sent them my audiogram and was told I was a candidate for open fit. I was very skeptical but since they have a return if not satisfied policy I tried a pair of OF3-162′s. Their most powerful open fit aid. That was several months ago. These are terrific. They go on in the morning and off at bedtime. Unbelievably they come with the programming software and the programmer!! The software is a snap to use. I will never again have to attempt to expain to an audi what I am or am not hearing. After I adjusted them half a dozen times I got them just right. When you get them in the mail they have been adjusted according to your audiogram. The price is just as terrific. I tried verite and several others at Costco that either malfuctioned or just didn’t sound right, and cost $1000 more for the pair then I paid for AH. Hope this info is of use to someone.
I was hoping for open fit from my nhs. But was told with my type of hearing loss, open fit would not be suitable.
I’m severe hearing loss in high tones but mild in low tones.