Effects of earmold venting on Electric-Acoustic Stimulation: A case report

Abstract

　　Earmold venting is effective for proper adjustment of the low-frequency responses of hearing aids and improvement of the wearing comfort. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of vented earmolds for electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS). A 43-year-old female patient underwent implantation of EAS. However, she could wear EAS for only less than nine hours per day, even when she was at work during working hours, because she did not feel comfortable wearing it for longer. To resolve this situation, we recommended that she use non-vented, parallel-vent, or Y-vent earmolds. We examined the hearing threshold levels and the monosyllable test scores and enquired about how she felt wearing EAS with the three different earmolds. The results showed that the patient at first felt more comfortable with the Y-vent earmold than with the other earmolds. However, she selected the non-vented earmold after using trying all the three earmolds for six months and is now able to wear her EAS throughout the day; she thought that the non-vented earmold provided the best hearing ability. Based on these results, we think that she can know each advantage fault was able to determine the merits and demerits of the types of earmolds by comparing them simultaneously. This is a simple method to encourage an individual to comfortably wear EAS.