Widex Custom Ear Moulds for Westone UM-2

Finally, I have found some time to sit down and start writing this review of what I feel about these "made in Hong Kong" custom ear moulds for the Westone UM-2.

Firstly, Widex is an audiologist company situated in Central, Hong Kong. They mainly make hearing aids for those hearing impaired and also industrial strength hearing protection for the potentially high risk groups like those in concert live sound or construction workers.

Click here to see Widex's homepage on the internet.

Before I start, here are some pictures I have taken for the Widex Custom Ear Moulds for my Westone UM-2 for the purpose of this review:









As you can see, these custom made ear moulds means that you can no longer share them with anyone else. And there is a slight mod made to the UM-2 to ensure that the canal phones stays in place with the mould when you are removing it (it can get quite traumatic for the first timer using the ear mould and while removing it, finds the canal phone removed but not the mould...).

The material used is silicon, of good quality. The cost for a pair of these would be HK$400-600 for a pair including an impression made of your ear canal.

Let's talk about the impression taking first.

I would highly recommend that before you head down to your local audiologist to get the impression made, you should pay a visit to an ENT specialist (Ear Nose Throat) to get your ears cleaned throughly. This invovles the ENT specialist using a microscope and a tiny "ear vacumn cleaner" to suck out the bits and pieces lodged in your ear canal. And according to my ENT specialist whom I see every 6 months to ensure my ears are nice and clean and healthy, this is the best way to get your ears cleaned.

After the cleaning is done, head down to the audiologist and get the impression made. This is a short 10 minutes process (add chatting with them, would end up about half an hour) and the process is not very uncomfortable. The difficult part is to keep your jaws opened for the whole 5-10 minutes while the compound dries in your ear canal. Trust me, keeping your jaws opened that long without drooling is an art. You will learn how to swallow your saliva in order not to look like a retard!

The audiologist will then send you home. In Singapore, where most of you readers are, this means you will have to get the impression after it totally dries and pack them up for courier to Widex or Westone for the custom mould to be made. In the case of UM-2, you will have to send them to the audiologist because they have to add another silicon band to secure the UM-2 to the custom mould. This process will take about 1 week, and add about three more days for your favourite courier to ping pong that back to you. SG-HK, HK-SG. But its worth it.

My first impression of the custom ear moulds:

The moment you wear your custome ear moulds, you will realise why custom moulds are so favoured by the professionals. The seal is perfect. It brings the ambient noises down by a lot more than regular sleeves, and this is a BIG difference.

And not only that, because Widex did research on custom ear moulds for in ear canal phones, they have also improved on the acoustic properties of these moulds. Your music will sound a whole lot more fuller than before, and bottom end is one of the things that you will find improved. The bottoms will now sound even rounder than before, and this is a good thing. It is not boomy, but fuller and rounder. I was all smiles at what Widex has achieved. It is more impressive than another that I have got. This has got to do with the silicon material selected by Widex.

According to the audiologist who worked on my case, the softer the silicon, the better the sound will turn out. This is interesting to know, because coloured silicon is a harder material and this means coloured silicon custom moulds will not sound as good as these translucent ones. So the rule is, for listening to music, the custom moulds has to be made of the softest and yet durable silicon material that the audiologist can find.

Because these ear moulds are customised to fit you, you will find them very comfortable to wear even for very long periods. I left mine in even while I was sleeping and when I woke up the next day, my ears were not aching which I thought should be experiencing. Very impressed with the workmanship of Widex. Only complaint is, I think the right side is not as tight as the left, and I will be making a trip back to Widex to get a refit next week.

Why am I talking about custom moulds? Its not to make you spend more money, in fact, its going to help you save money in the long run. Why? When you consider how much you will spend a year on foamies, which does not provide the same super fit seal as custom moulds, you will then seriously consider getting a pair of custom moulds made. These custom moulds would easily last 1-3 years with care. The only thing is, for those who have wet ear wax, the silicon will turn slightly yellowish over time. There is nothing to be alarmed about, this colouration is just staining from the ear wax and it does not compromise the properties of the ear mould nor affect the sound quality of the ear mould. The only thing is, keep the cusom ear moulds from extreme temperatures and the moulds will stay in shape. Heat is the worse enemy, so don't keep your custom ear moulds in the car under the sun, or you will be calling the audiologist to make another pair for you.

And don't wash the custom ear moulds in hot water!

The reason why I keep trying to get everyone to use in ear canal phones is that you only get your hearing once in your life. Ear drums are not replaceable. You only get one chance in life to take care of your ears. And when you are listening to music, the louder the ambient noise means the louder you crank up the music. This does damage to your ears.

First to be affected are the high frequencies that you can hear, then it slowly work its way down and you will be hearing impaired in no time. You cannot get a transplant or repair damaged hearing, so you have been warned!

Give it thought. With a super fitting custom ear moulds, you will enjoy better sounding music, without having to crank up the levels which will save your ears, and also, in the long run, save you from spending money on replacing foamies.

There is a downside to these custom moulds though... because of the seal, when you try to eat while wearing the custom moulds, you will find that the jaw actions will be magnified... quite irritating when you want to listen to music while you are eating lunch (I eat lunch alone alot and therefore this bugs me to death!)

But you will get used to them after a while. Like I did.

The pros overshadow the cons by miles. My verdict? Go to an audiologist and get the custom ear moulds made. You will appreciate them.

Special thanks to the audiologists at Widex Hong Kong, for spending time to help me with my research on custom ear moulds and explaining to me on all the small details into how these custom ear moulds for in ear canal phones were made from a long time spent on research and development.

I will be getting a pair of musician ear plugs made as I will be touring with some international acts this year. And concerts are loud affairs, and the damage to your hearing is severe. These costs about HK$1800 a pair because of the technology involved. For those who are interested, you can also get them made by Westone. The filters are made by Etymotics (surprised?) and I am getting a pair that reduce the levels by 15db. The sound frequencies will hardly be affected, only the sound levels will be lowered. Cool technology or what?

Until the next review.... keep the volume levels on your iPods low... the price to pay for hearing damage/loss is simply too much to pay for music enjoyment. Take care. And a Happy New Year to you readers once again.

God bless,
Uncle Plastic.