Patent ID: 7875223

Claim:
A method for fabricating a hearing instrument for insertion into the ear canal of a user, the ear canal having a contour, the hearing instrument comprising a hard inner shell containing hearing instrument components, and a softer outer covering, where the hard inner shell comprises inner dimensions, an inner contour, and a thickness, the method comprising: determining the minimum inner dimensions of the hard inner shell for containing the hearing instrument components; selecting a thickness for the hard inner shell; fabricating the hard inner shell, where fabricating the hard inner shell comprises fabricating an inner contour comprising the minimum inner dimensions and the selected thickness; fabricating a mold comprising an inner contour conforming to the contour of at least a portion of the user's ear canal; placing the hard inner shell in the mold; and injecting a material for forming the softer outer covering into the mold between the inner contour of the mold and the hard inner shell.