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DIY Impressions or recommended London impressions taker?

post #1 of 20
12/30/11 at 3:16pm
Thread Starter 

Well being a student, I'd like to save some money wherever possible. I'm now planning to get Heir Audio's 3.A and was wondering between making my own impressions versus going to an audiologist in London. Things in the city are never cheap so obviously I'd want to make my own impressions.

 

I haven't been able to find the Radians in the UK but instead, I've found this:

http://www.snorestore.co.uk/acatalog/pro-fit-custom-earplugs.html#

pro-fit-zm1.jpg

 

Would these be suitable for sending off as ear impressions? They're only £9.24!

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post #2 of 20
12/30/11 at 3:39pm

I strongly advise that you have your impression taken by a professional audiologist, which will save you from having another refit (you'll have to take another impression eventually). There are numerous factors that can affect the quality of the impression you can never think of, especially for someone not being trained/having no experience whatsoever. I have built several customs and they are all real experiences, not something I 'heard of'.

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post #3 of 20
12/30/11 at 3:48pm

definitely go to an audiologist. i assume ciems need to fit well so will need accurate impressions. the place recommended to me is in harley street and cost £60. i just checked with heir audio(nancy not dr moulton) and she said they were fine. also the product you have a pic of seems to be more like re moldable putty which will lose it's shape before it gets to heir audio

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post #4 of 20
12/30/11 at 4:33pm
Thread Starter 

Well it looks exactly the same as the stuff Kozee send out, as in it's two packets of "stuff" which you mix together and stuff in your ear. I was thinking of picking up a syringe too as it will definitely give a more natural impression rather then me poking at it. I've also read reviews about it being solid. Are the impressions meant to be soft, solid, or in the middle?

 

I think I'm pretty handy with things like these too. I've read of several people using DIY impressions but I never paid attention to the result though and I'm not too fond of Head-Fi's search engine, it never seems to give me what I want!

 

£60 is way too expensive for impressions.. To be honest, all universals fit me fine (apart from triple flanges with Etys), so I'm sure a little bit of give in CIEMs won't hurt?

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post #5 of 20
12/30/11 at 4:40pm

my mistake. misunderstood the meaning on the packaging. still think it is better to go to an audiologist(don't take what i paid as the norm)unless you know how far to squeeze the stuff in and make sure it covers the right parts of your ears. the heir audio website has instructions if that helps

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post #6 of 20
12/30/11 at 4:55pm

There is no fixed standard for impression's toughness, the shore value can vary within a large range since we all have different ears and for instance if someone has a more sensitive pair than the others' it's not a wise choice to use 'hard' material in this case. But a hard impression will make detailing process easier, that's why I said there are loads of factors to look at in this case.

 

And I really doubt the possibility of your diy impression getting accepted once the company realize they are not made by a professional (they might if you insist though). But bear in mind that even with a properly made impression the likelihood of having a refit is not 100% eliminated, not to mention something diy-ed.

 

Again, if you are too mindful about the cost, why not just go with a good universal pair? If you are not satisfied with the sound quality there's always the selling option to take back fraction of the original value, which is not in the case of getting a custom pair.

 

 

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post #7 of 20
12/30/11 at 4:56pm
Thread Starter 

I'm going to call up one that I found tomorrow and see how much they charge. I'd like a try at making my own impressions though. I'm going to write down my own instructions though as I make a habit of rushing through instructions but with these I know I definitely need to be slow and careful.

 

Yeah I understand, I think most of the factors are a combination of things such as open mouth vs closed mouth, swallowing, deep breathing etc. I'll make sure to perfect it as much as I can myself.

 

I've already got several mid/higher end universals (sig), and there are several that I like, but I'd rather have one good thing than several mediocre things. Ofc, if the CIEMs really turn out bad then there's not much that I can do, but I am prepared if that is the case.


Edited by Ulti - 12/30/11 at 4:59pm
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post #8 of 20
12/30/11 at 5:13pm

You'd better ask Heir if they accept this kind of impression, and whether there's any cost involving if you have to make a refit. Btw, it's easy to spot a diy impression.

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post #9 of 20
1/1/12 at 9:52am

It's only $20-60 to get impressions. Sending customs made from bad materials could alter the shape when shipping,etc.

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post #10 of 20
1/1/12 at 10:33am
Thread Starter 

If I get impressions for $45 or less I would have jumped the gun already, but being in the UK, and in London, doesn't help at all. I'd probably have to go to the worst, most shady audiologist to get impressions for less than $45 in London.

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post #11 of 20
1/1/12 at 3:18pm

I wonder if you can find such audiologist anywhere within the uk, let alone london. It costs around 40gbp here in Coventry already.

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post #12 of 20
1/2/12 at 3:29am

The recommended one on Ultimate Ears' website is:

 

Harley Street Hearing

Katherine O

129 Harley Street

London

W1G 6BA

United Kingdom

 

020 7486 1053

 

http://www.harleysthearing.co.uk

 

020 7935 1633 (Fax)

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post #13 of 20
1/4/12 at 6:42am
Thread Starter 

Received the earplugs kit. Let's just say it went badly. Both my impressions had 1 defect:

 

On my right ear, I used a synringe to insert the material, however, although it went really deep, it was not as smooth and compacted as it should be.

 

On my left ear, I decided to use my hand to insert the impression. The shape of it is completely fine and really well defined, smooth, creaseless etc. However, it is not deep enough.

 

The material in the earplugs kit is good, however, there's simply not enough of it.

 

Well now I've learnt, doing my own impression with a syringe = fail.

 

I still think doing your own impressions is possible if you've either:

-Got a handy, trustworthy friend

-Have enough impression material

 

Well time to get calling up some Hearing centres in London!

 

EDIT: Wow, inserting them back into my ear takes some work! I thought after trying so many different universals, my ear would handle anything, but it seems customs are really different! The noise isolation on my left ear is pretty good, right ear is terrible though, which means that it was a terrible impression. I'm sure on my left it would have been even better if it went deeper.


Edited by Ulti - 1/4/12 at 6:55am
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post #14 of 20
1/4/12 at 8:29am

Hopefully you can find a somewhat reasonably priced audiologist. Let us know how it goes and if possible how much it costs if you dont mind me asking. 

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post #15 of 20
1/4/12 at 1:15pm

eddie i used harley street hearing but the website has a different page for the ciems. the girl taking my impressions explained everything that she was going to do and also asked lots of questions to make sure i knew what i was asking for! heir audio received them a few days ago and said they are fine.

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