[Region2]

Quote:

It depends on if you are comfortable or if whoever is helping you is comfortable with putting that stuff inside your ear. I am not so I went with an audiologist. I got charged $50 which isn't too bad considering it's right in the middle of NYC where everything is expensive. Of course a couple weeks after I got my customs in the mail I found out about a place that does it for $20 near my house..
 
If you can find a reasonable price from an audiologist ($100 is not) I would go with an audiologist but of course you may be comfortable with saving a couple bucks and doing it yourself. I'm sure DIY isn't too difficult as when I got mine done at an audiologist it didn't look too complicated.

 
rawrster, could I get info on that audiologist?  I've been debating on getting customs and knowing the name of some local audiologists would be great.
 

 

[rawrster]

Go to the JHA website and look at their recommended audiologist under New York. The one I went to was Dr. Servedio (spelling may be wrong but close enough). It's $50 cash and you need to make an appointment. If you want to spend less there's one at $40 in chelsea area I think but you need to call around since I forgot where that was. There's also one in Queens which apparently is $20 but I never confirmed it. It's called Miracle Ear and it is in Elmhurst.

 

[Silent One]

Yes, without question. I value my health, especially vision and hearing. For me, seeing an audiologist was an opportunity to get checked out before I tuned out. To me , investing in my health was a no brainer. And Doc gave me excellent info on my way out of the office to boot - improper storage of impressions and significant weight gain/loss will negatively impact 'the golden seal.' With the former, the shape of the impressions could change. With the latter, the shape of your ear canals will change.
 
All told, $50 well spent!
 
 

 
Quote:

I originally was is the $200 price range for IEM's but decided customs sounded like the right thing for me so I'm going with the JH 5 Pro's. This puts me up at $400.
 
Is the do-it-yourself impression a no brainer or is it well worth the $100 or so to have an Audiologist do it?

 

[Bennyboy71]

 
Quote:

Yes, without question. I value my health, especially vision and hearing. For me, seeing an audiologist was an opportunity to get checked out before I tuned out. To me , investing in my health was a no brainer. And Doc gave me excellent info on my way out of the office to boot - improper storage of impressions and significant weight gain/loss will negatively impact 'the golden seal.' With the former, the shape of the impressions could change. With the latter, the shape of your ear canals will change.
 
All told, $50 well spent!
 
 

 

 

 
Another reason not to get customs - you've got to stay fat or skinny.
 

 

[FrederikS|TPU]

I think it is worth it for a couple of reasons.
 
You are sure that there are nothing wrong physically with your ear and that there are no wax residues causing the mold to go bad.
Besides that if you see a proper audiologist they have probably done a lot of those molds and know what a successful impression looks like when they pull it out of your ear which might save you from having to send the in-ears back and forth to the manufacturer.
 
It takes some experience to get the molds just right and that is why I think DIYing them is a bad idea, unless you are an audiologist ofc

 

[daveDerek]

as well as checking various custom iem manufacturers web sites for recommendations, you can check this thread, and please update it (as directed in the first post) if you have experiences, positive or negative, to share. :
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/440466/the-audiologists-impressions-thread-pun-most-definitely-intended

 

[joay]

 
[size=x-small]Update: I got three quotes, $100, $60 and $50.  [/size][size=x-small]If an audiologist is asking $100+, get quotes elsewhere.[/size]
 
[size=x-small]Impressions are not really a do-it-yourself thing. The audiologist had to clean debris from my ear to get the proper impression. Custom earphones require rather deep in-cannel impressions, it's not out of the realm of possility to inject the foam too deeply into your ear canal possibly injuring yourself. [/size]

 

[mnagali]

I mentioned this on other threads before, but I think it's worth mentioning again here.  Don't limit your search to just "audiologists", but expand it to include other terms such as "hearing aids" too ^^
 
speaking of which how does everyone search for their audiologist? yellow pages? seach engines? I personally searched directly on google maps and started calling one by one

 

[deviationer]

If you want to go DIY, then do so:
http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/foimkit.html
 
I used that kit for my remold and it worked great.
You do need a helper and you need to make sure you go deep enough with the impression material.
 
Although you could do it without a helper but it would be a bit tricky.
You would need some mirrors to check that the cotton stopper is in far enough and to make sure you get every nook in your ear with the impression material

 

[dweaver]

I also used the kit from the Earplug Store and found it very straight forward and easy to do.

 

[Mike7up]

Where in NYC can I get an ear mold at a decent price???