gordec
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
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How to Get Custom Ear Sleeves for Your IEMs
Just a quick background on me. I am an ENT (ear, nose, throat physician) in the Bay Area. I am for most part an enthusiast, and head-fi has contributed a lot to my music knowledge. I thought I contribute a little back to the community.
Working with a lot of hearing aid patients through my audiologist, I was able to learn that the custom ear molds can be applied to IEMs. I think custom sleeves are the single most important factor to get the most out of your IEMs, especially if you have odd-shaped ear canal like I do. I have no financial interest in Westone, even though I talk about their product in this guide. It’s just what my clinic uses for hearing aid patients. I know custom ear sleeves isn’t anything new to the headfi community, but I thought I post this fairly detailed guide on the typical process of getting a set made and some of the things you should watch out for.
1. Call your local ENT office or audiologist or potential hearing aid dispenser. Audiologists are the most common people who make ear impressions. The typical cost for the impression to be made + the cost of the sleeves through Westone from our clinic is $200. If you just want impressions it’s $60. This is Bay Area price, so it’s a little inflated.
2. Once the impression is made, the turn around for Westone is 4-6 weeks. You will need to mail in your IEMs with it. Some companies won’t do it for certain odd shaped IEMs. Westone is the best, and they will pretty much make it for every brand including the oddly shaped Sony XBA-Z5, UE TF10, etc. But you may be told after everything is mailed out that they can’t do it depends the manufacturer.
3. You will get to pick from many different colors and patterns. Here is the link to Westone’s custom sleeves options. http://www.westone.com/hhc/index.php/earpieces-and-the-ear/earpiece-materials-colors. You should also ask for a large vent hole to be made. See picture one. Your audiologist can later provide you with small silastic plugs with different vents in the plugs to tune your bass. Obviously a very large vent will attenuate bass but expand the openness, and small vent hole will accentuate bass. Not everyone will offer that to you off the bat. This is very important.
4. After you get your sleeves, really take your time to try it on at the office. They can file down the edges if they don’t fit well or cause pain. It’s much easier than going back. The part to pay particular attention to is the area of the anterior crus of the helix. I circled in the second picture.
This is often the area where the fit is improper. However, if you file down too much, the fit may be too lose.
5. That’s about it. Your IEM’s sound quality and comfort should both dramatically improve.
Just a quick background on me. I am an ENT (ear, nose, throat physician) in the Bay Area. I am for most part an enthusiast, and head-fi has contributed a lot to my music knowledge. I thought I contribute a little back to the community.
Working with a lot of hearing aid patients through my audiologist, I was able to learn that the custom ear molds can be applied to IEMs. I think custom sleeves are the single most important factor to get the most out of your IEMs, especially if you have odd-shaped ear canal like I do. I have no financial interest in Westone, even though I talk about their product in this guide. It’s just what my clinic uses for hearing aid patients. I know custom ear sleeves isn’t anything new to the headfi community, but I thought I post this fairly detailed guide on the typical process of getting a set made and some of the things you should watch out for.
1. Call your local ENT office or audiologist or potential hearing aid dispenser. Audiologists are the most common people who make ear impressions. The typical cost for the impression to be made + the cost of the sleeves through Westone from our clinic is $200. If you just want impressions it’s $60. This is Bay Area price, so it’s a little inflated.
2. Once the impression is made, the turn around for Westone is 4-6 weeks. You will need to mail in your IEMs with it. Some companies won’t do it for certain odd shaped IEMs. Westone is the best, and they will pretty much make it for every brand including the oddly shaped Sony XBA-Z5, UE TF10, etc. But you may be told after everything is mailed out that they can’t do it depends the manufacturer.
3. You will get to pick from many different colors and patterns. Here is the link to Westone’s custom sleeves options. http://www.westone.com/hhc/index.php/earpieces-and-the-ear/earpiece-materials-colors. You should also ask for a large vent hole to be made. See picture one. Your audiologist can later provide you with small silastic plugs with different vents in the plugs to tune your bass. Obviously a very large vent will attenuate bass but expand the openness, and small vent hole will accentuate bass. Not everyone will offer that to you off the bat. This is very important.
4. After you get your sleeves, really take your time to try it on at the office. They can file down the edges if they don’t fit well or cause pain. It’s much easier than going back. The part to pay particular attention to is the area of the anterior crus of the helix. I circled in the second picture.
This is often the area where the fit is improper. However, if you file down too much, the fit may be too lose.
5. That’s about it. Your IEM’s sound quality and comfort should both dramatically improve.
