The Importance of Real Ear Measurements (REM)

If your hearing aids are less than five years old, we can usually fine-tune allowing you to hear and understand much better. A visit to our hearing clinic could mean you won’t need to invest in new hearing aids.

Because Now Hear This® also makes new modern hearing aids work better right from the start, you don’t have to come back again and again for adjustments. Instead, you can live life to the fullest enjoying the many health and safety benefits of hearing aids fitted just right for you.  

Hearing aid dealers and audiologists who don’t use the technologies and procedures within Real Ear Measurements means they have to rely on guesswork to fit and adjust hearing aids.  Without our audiologist, it would be difficult and time-consuming to eliminate the risk of hearing certain sounds and noises that can be uncomfortable or “too loud”.

Real Ear Measurements (REM) help the audiologists at Now Hear This® confirm that your hearing aids create the clearest and most comfortable sounds for you and your listening needsß. REM is one of the most critical parts of a successful fitting as it ensures that the hearing prescription and programming match the unique acoustic “fingerprint” of your ear. Research audiologists, and feedback from patients, have proven that REM greatly increases the accuracy of the initial fitting and results in fewer adjustments and follow-up visits. REM gives audiologists the ability to use a tiny microphone to measure the hearing aid volume at your eardrum and adjust the hearing aids to make the sounds clear and comfortable. It takes a little extra time but is worth it. Your hearing aids will deliver the benefits you want right from the start.

In the first video, Dr. Shopovick prepares a patient for Real Ear Measurement. Proper placement of the highly sensitive probe microphone is critical for this measurement and takes thousands of hours of training to perfect. As each individual’s ear canal is shaped differently, it can greatly impact the acoustic output of the hearing aid. Placement of the probe microphone at precisely the correct position in the ear canal and relative to the hearing aid is critical to better speech understanding.

In this second video, Dr. Shopovick performs several Real Ear Measures on a test patient. The “carrot passage” as we so fondly refer to it, is a highly researched recording of speech that encompasses all the phonemes of the American English dialect. Our Audiologists are also well versed in a variety of other prescriptive recordings that ensure speech audibility, but this one is most common. The loud beeps at the end are used to ensure the maximum output of the hearing aids is not too loud. For example, if a fire truck were to drive by, we would not want the hearing aids causing additional discomfort or damage (although we must admit a firetruck is an uncomfortable noise without hearing aids!)

While Dr. Egan is no longer actively working with patients and has a more administrative role, please enjoy this educational video she has created as a summary of the Real Ear Measurement experience.

Loudness Mapping ensures a patient’s hearing aids match their natural sound preferences. Consequently, not using these standard protocols will leave a patient unsatisfied with their hearing.

Sometimes called Speech-in-Noise tests, they help us fine tune hearing aids and enable you to understand what people are saying in noisy social situations, like busy restaurants and parties.

Call us today at 919-256-2898 if you or a loved one are ready to experience the many benefits of clear, comfortable hearing. Our caring, knowledgeable staff is ready to help you take the next steps to a better quality of life!