Hi, I’m Dr. Egan from Now Hear This®, and today I’d like to talk to you about the number one most important thing when getting your hearing aids programmed—something called Real Ear Measures.
If you were to think about yelling in a closet versus in an auditorium, the sound quality of that yelling would be very different because of the change in space. Yelling in a small closet sounds very different from yelling in a wide-open, reverberant auditorium. Well, the same thing happens with ear canals!
If I were to put hearing aids on a tiny baby’s ear canal and then put them on an adult’s ear canal that’s a more normal size, the hearing aid is going to sound very different. That’s a dramatic way of saying that everyone’s ear canal shape and size are different, and that impacts the sound quality we hear from hearing aids.
So, what is Real Ear Measurement? It involves placing a tiny rubber microphone in your ear to measure exactly what is happening by your eardrum. This process takes into account the individual size and shape of your ear. That’s how we’re able to objectively measure and ensure we’re giving you all the sound you’re missing. Without this measurement, it would essentially be guesswork.
Unfortunately, only about 25% of audiologists follow this best practice of doing Real Ear Measurement with every hearing aid fitting. If you think about it, babies can’t tell you if the sound is too loud or too soft, so Real Ear Measurement is the only way to properly program hearing aids for a baby. Well, adults still need the same quality care, so we make sure to perform Real Ear Measurement on every single patient who comes into our clinic.
That’s why our return rate is less than 1%. When you actually measure and perform the right tests, the sound quality is better, and the listening effort is significantly reduced. As a result, people can hear in the places and situations that matter most to them.
I hope you learned a little bit from this video, and of course, have a wonderful rest of your day!
