Today I received my DIY ear impressions kit from Inearcustom.com, and it arrived faster than I expected... cross-country IN TWO DAYS from Florida to Washington State via First Class mail. I guess the Post Office put the package on the same fast track as a Priority Mail piece.
Being the curious & impatient type, I couldn't wait to try out the kit. The instructions online recommend a helper but said it can be done successfully by oneself using a wall mirror and a hand-held mirror... so I did it myself with the two mirror approach.
The detailed instructions (plus some videos on YouTube that I searched for and watched) made the process very clear. Everything went well, the impressions were easy to make, without any discomfort. Each ear took only 10 minutes to make impressions, including seven minutes of curing/drying time (probably more than needed).
The impressions turned out great, and they have long full "tips" (the mold of the ear canal) which look like the examples labeled "excellent" on Inearcustom's web site.
The only caution I'd offer to others trying this is to work quickly like the instructions say; 20 seconds kneading & mixing time for the silicone blobs is maximum, as it gets hard to force the material out of the supplied syringe as it starts to get thicker and harden.
I'm shipping the impressions and my UETF10 IEMs back to Rob tomorrow so he can start on the reshelling. If anyone's hesitating about the DIY impressions step, there's no need to worry. It's easy to do and sure beats the time and expense of having a professional audiologist make them.
Edited by 4nradio - 1/31/13 at 9:48pm
