Westone's Top Ten

As the custom earpiece industry leader, with a team of crack technical service personnel available to answer your calls and e-mails, we’re in a unique position to track common issues that routinely arise. With that in mind, we present today’s top 10 customer questions:

1. Which earpiece material do you recommend for small children?

For small children we usually recommend vinyl earpieces. Soft material makes sense, with less chance of ear injury during rough play, gym class, etc., but because of their small ear canals, silicone is not a good option. Silicone earpieces retain their tubes best using a TRS tube lock, as gluing is often difficult. Really tiny ear canals are too small to use a tube lock (due to distortion), and can be too small to even tube all the way through. Vinyl earpieces are the best choice - they are soft for comfort and safety and easy to retube.

2. How about senior citizens? Which earpiece material is best?

If a soft earpiece is desired, we also recommend vinyl - but for a different reason. Older folks generally tend to have softer, more flaccid ear texture. Silicones, while soft, may be too soft for those with loose skin in and around their ears. The material also has more natural “grip.” The combination of these two factors can sometimes cause uncomfortable abrasions, especially when inserting and removing the silicone earpieces. When acoustically appropriate for the hearing loss, acrylic earpieces will also work fine for most seniors.

3. It sounds like vinyl is the way to go. Why might I want to use silicone for my soft earpieces?

Silicone earpieces offer several advantages over vinyl. They tend to be more durable than vinyl and less susceptible to hardening and shrinkage over time. Silicones also tend to be better tolerated by those suffering from earpiece allergies. In those cases, we would strongly recommend our hypoallergenic Frosted Flex and Mediflex. Another benefit of silicone over vinyl is the wider range of color options that are available, including swyrl and DisappEar colors.

4. Now I’m a little confused. If I want soft earpieces, which should I order?

We recommend you consider the patient’s age and ear texture first, then earpiece color options and durability. If a child is constantly pulling tubes out of really nice looking silicone OtoBlast Swyrl earpieces, or if a senior cannot tolerate wearing his cosmetically appealing DisappEar silicone earpieces, then the benefits of silicone are not really being applied. Consider fitting these populations with vinyl. Silicone earpieces are best suited for those with suspected earpiece allergies, older kids and adults up to age 65 or so.

5. Are there any other choices for a patient who might be allergic to certain earpiece materials?

In addition to Mediflex and Frosted Flex, most patients can also wear clear acrylic earpieces. To make these earpieces less likely to cause reactions, please write on the order, “Boil in saline.” For a highly allergic patient, a last resort is our polyethylene material which is available only in white and pink. We suggest trying the other hypoallergenic materials first, however, as polyethylene is quite difficult to modify.

6. I like to keep up with the status of my earpiece orders. Is there any way to check on orders without having to call?

Westone’s unique WebEar service allows you to check the real-time status of your earpiece orders. To access WebEar, please go to http://www.westone.com/webear.

On your first visit, you will be asked to create a user account and set-up a password. After that, you can check in as often as you’d like.

7. Assuming I need to have an earpiece remade, how much time do I have to request it?

Westone provides a 90 day remake policy for problems due to fit or function, effective the date we manufacturer the earpiece. The manufacture date is the date shown on your invoice. If you’d like us to remake an earpiece from the original ear impression, please call us first, to make sure we still have the impression and that it is still intact. Although your earpiece fit warranty is 90 days, we discard ear impressions after 30 days to make room for current production.

8. Are there any limitations to the 90 day remake policy?

“Open style” earpieces are not covered for feedback, for obvious reasons. Occlusion is also not covered under the policy. If your patient is experiencing occlusion and you would like the vent enlarged and are not comfortable modifying it yourself, send in the earpiece(s) and we can modify the vent for you for a small fee. If your original ear impression was inadequate (underfilled, voided by heavy ear hair, etc.) and you asked us to make the earpiece with “no guarantee,” the remake policy does not apply.
 
9. I haven’t always had great luck with regular mail. What is the best shipping alternative?

Federal Express recently became Westone’s preferred shipper and we were able to negotiate some very good shipping rates with them. The best deal is on FedEx Express Saver service, which usually takes 3 business days or less anywhere in the continental US. The round trip charge is only $10.00, and $6.00 for one-way. You can make this even more economical by shipping multiple orders in the same bag, “sharing the ride” for the same shipping charge. (Through August 31, the Saver cost for three or more orders in one bag is just $7.50 round trip!) If you need quicker delivery, overnight and two day service are also available.

10. Is there any way that express shipping can be more economical?

Many of our accounts have switched to shipping their orders via FedEx, but are saving money by always shipping their impressions to us just once or twice a week. This way there are always multiple orders shipping together, saving on inbound shipping costs. Also, at your request, we can set-up your account so that completed earpieces ship back to you on specified days of the week. Again, this ensures that multiple orders ship together, lowering the per earpiece shipping cost.