Earmolds cause further hearing loss ?

[hambon]

My hearing loss has progressively gone worse over the last 5 years but has plateaued at the 65db loss. Six Months ago I switched from canal Micro Molds (acrylic) to a DEEPER Canal Soft mold for my Oticon Epoqs BTE and have noticed my hearing has dropped primarily in the higher frequencies. I have small ear canals so the new soft molds were designed to go deeper to give me a fuller sound. They also pretty much sealed off external sounds bar whatever made it through the small ventilation hole.

I recently took a hearing test to see if in fact my hearing did go down. It dipped around 5 db in the one of the higher freq but thats it. So I asked my audi about the loss and she likened it to someone walking into a dark room and having to adjust their eyes and that it is "temporary"??

I want to know if anyone has experienced anythign like this and if this sounds normal?

Thanks

[DocAudio]

5dB isn't different. There is a +/- 5dB test/re-test variability between tests so unless a threshold is different by 10 or 15dB, it's not really considered different.

The change in earmolds will not cause a decrease in hearing.

[cheap hearing aids]

Originally Posted by DocAudio

5dB isn't different. There is a +/- 5dB test/re-test variability between tests so unless a threshold is different by 10 or 15dB, it's not really considered different.

The change in earmolds will not cause a decrease in hearing.

Doc Audio is right
First thing to remember about hearing testing is that audiology in an inexact science. Hearing testing is a really good attempt at finding hearing thresholds; it is NOT perfect in any way and is littered with variables. Even in the profession 5 - 10 db is accepted as within limits. Even headphone placement can attribute to some or all of the error. An audiometer is callibrated once a year. I have proven that a properly calibrated audiometer can be 10 db out in some frequencies with a week of calibration. I also carried out some experiments with users and patients. If either is a bit tired or having a bit of an off day, the results can be 10db out.
Hearing testing has not changed since the 1930's and untill it does, we are stuck with no more than a pretty fair hearing estimate.