I recently found out about a new product called SolaceShield. It is essentially a 3D printed case to place around a bone anchored hearing aid so that you can wear the hearing aid under a winter hat. I was extremely excited to try out this product.

I recently upgraded to an Oticon Ponto 5 SuperPower. This Ponto version advertised that the feedback suppression is so good that you can wear the device with hats. I have found that I can wear a sunhat with my Ponto 5 SuperPower without any feedback, which I could not do with my older device. That has been an awesome update. However, I still could not wear a winter hat without experiencing squeals.

As someone who lives in a northern climate and is very outdoorsy, being unable to wear my bone anchored hearing aid under a hat has always been a bummer. I love doing winter sports like ice skating, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. I often wound up not wearing my device while doing these sports, either to protect the device or to keep my head warm enough. I did sometimes use hats with ponytail holes, so my device was outside the hat, but that wouldn’t protect the device from cold or snow and could be finnicky for adjusting. I often do outdoor activities with my children or family, so being unable to wear my hearing aid while participating was challenging and disappointing.

When I learned about SolaceShield, I contacted the creator, Rachel, and she offered to send me a SolaceShield in exchange for an honest review. Here are my thoughts:

The SolaceShield is a handy hack. The way it works is that while you are wearing your bone anchored device, you flip your hair up, position the shield, and then pull your winter hat over the whole kit and caboodle. If you have short hair, the SolaceShield comes with a velcro sticker you can place on the outside to help the shield adhere to your hat and keep it in place. It is very simple but essentially creates a cage around the hearing aid to keep it safe and keep the hat from rubbing the device’s microphones and creating feedback.

It takes a little adjusting to get the SolaceShield placed just right so it is comfortable and doesn’t bump the aid or your ear. I also found that choosing the correct hat was important. The hat needed to be tight enough to hug the shield and keep it in place, but not so tight that it became uncomfortable.

Once I had it in place correctly, I tested it out with a 2 hour cross country ski. It did a wonderful job of staying in place! I had no issues with shifting or squealing. It was very comfortable. The only trickiness was using the SolaceShield with ski googles. I had to pull the straps down low to make sure it didn’t overlap the shield area. I also tested the SolaceShield with a winter walk with my husband, and I could hear him quite well through my bone anchored hearing aid under the hat.

There are 2 different sizes the SolaceShield comes in. I first got a smaller one as I thought that would be correct, but it turned out for my Oticon Ponto 5 SuperPower I needed the larger size (how much my abutment sticks out may have played a role). I have photos here of me wearing both sizes (top row is smaller size, bottom row is larger size). While there is a little bump visible, I think with the correct hat it doesn’t look odd. I also don’t think the bump size is significantly different with the large versus small. When you order, you can always reach out to Rachel to find out what size she recommends.

I am really excited about this new product.  It will vastly improve my experience at future sledding parties and ice skating outings. I definitely think it is worth picking one up if you are a winter hat wearer and bone anchored hearing aid user.

SolaceShield’s website: https://solaceshield.shop/

SolaceShield on Instagram

Rachel’s blog post with the story of creating SolaceShield: https://hearandnow.cochlear.com/hearing-solutions/bone-conduction/baha-sound-processor-features/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=_bc__rst_bcs-prog_&utm_content=Learn%20More%20About%20Rachel%27s%20Hearing%20Journey%20with%20the%20Baha%20Sound%20Processor_0125_link&sf203756428=1&fbclid=IwY2xjawIrD_hleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXiIiOZu61igW68Srw6RqFxx7kidDH1YtqqQmY6iytRx2FOZiN50wEZ3VA_aem_xLzBWhGimI4rNryks5-7LA