The wax guard of claim 1 wherein the means for temporarily adhering said wax guard in position is a normally tacky and pressure-sensitive adhesive tape.

An ear piece component for use with a user-disposable sleeve, having a duct and soft polymeric foam firmly secured to the duct, to facilitate transmission of sound to an ear canal of a user, said ear piece component comprising: a connecting portion having (i) distal and proximal ends and an exterior surface between said distal and proximal ends, (ii) a sound tube extending through said connecting portion between said distal and proximal ends, and (iii) means on said exterior surface for disposably attaching the duct of the sleeve to said connecting portion, and a flange portion secured to said proximal end. view more

An assembly according to claim 12, wherein said foam is highly compressible, has a slow, substantially complete recovery, and can be compressed to be freely insertable into an ear canal of the user and to become wedged in the canal when the foam is allowed to recover. view more

A user-disposable sleeve for a hearing aid that comprises an ear piece including a sound tube, said sleeve being freely insertable into an external ear canal of the user and comprising a flexible, elongated duct which is formed with a longitudinal passage and fastening means at one end thereof for disposably attaching the duct to said ear piece with said passage connecting the sound tube of the hearing aid to the ear of the user, soft polymeric foam having proximal and distal ends, said foam fitting over and being firmly secured to the duct, with said fastening means being at said proximal end of said foam, which foam has slow, substantially complete recovery, and can be compressed to be freely insertable into said external ear canal of the user and to become wedged in the canal when the foam is allowed to recover. view more

A disposable sleeve adapted for insertion into an external ear canal of a user to facilitate transmission of sound to the ear of the user comprising soft polymeric foam having proximal and distal ends, and longitudinal passage there between, a hollow, flexible, elongated duct firmly secured in said longitudinal passage, wherein said foam has an exterior surface, is highly compressible, has slow, substantially complete recovery, and can be compressed to be freely insertable into said external ear canal of said user to become wedged in the canal when the foam is allowed to recover, and means fastened to the proximal end of said foam for disposably attaching said sleeve to a sound transmission device. view more