Comparison of the efficacy of 3D ear molds and conventional earmolds

Earmolds have been part of the hearing aid fitting since 1920. And with the developing technology, earmold making has also improved considerably. Conventional earmold construction has gradually been replaced by 3D earmold construction. In this study, we compared the awareness between conventional earmold (traditional earmold) and 3D earmold. Our study was conducted at the Pakses Hearing Aids center for a period of two weeks by healthy patients over the age of 18 who were able to interpret the questions correctly. Two earmolds were taken from our hearing aid patients and two separate earmolds were made as conventional and 3D earmolds. Both earmolds were inspected at one-week intervals and satisfaction between them was measured with the EARMOLD COMFORT SURVEY using the APHAB and VAS scales. For the comparison of ear molds, the participants were asked to fill out the aphab and ear mold comfort questionnaire by having two different ear molds tested. When the results were evaluated, it was measured that the efficiency of the 3D earmold and conventional earmold users was better than the conventional earmold. When we consider the results of both surveys, evaluations were made with and without hearing aids in the distribution of men and women. In the evaluation, it was concluded that patients using hearing aids were more satisfied. When the ear mold comfort questionnaire was evaluated, it was determined that there was a significant difference in the efficiency obtained from the 3D ear mold in women and men compared to the conventional ear mold and this difference was in favor of the 3D ear mold. These results show that the systems used in earmold production should be innovated and 3D technology should be used more widely in earmold production. Keywords: Ear mold, conventional ear mold, 3D ear mold technology, Ear mold technology