Real Ear Measurement

What Is It?

Real ear measurement is a technique that audiologists use to verify that your hearing aids are making speech audible in a way that is safe and effective. It involves a very small probe microphone measuring sound in your ear while your hearing aid is also in your ear. This allows the sound output of the hearing aid to be measured while taking into account the acoustics of your ear. From there, the audiologist can make adjustments to your hearing aid to accurately amplify sound at different inputs and for different frequencies. It is a crucial part of performing an accurate and beneficial hearing aid fitting.

Woman sitting in front of a monitor during real ear measurement

While it’s being done, your clinician will be making adjustments to your hearing aid settings while also checking the output of the hearing aid on a graph that looks something like the one below:

Real ear measurement graph

Why Should You Care?

Unfortunately, it is estimated that only about 30% of hearing providers are actually doing real ear measurements. Instead, a provider might use a “first fit” that estimates what the hearing aid output should be (and usually this is an underestimate). This is quite concerning, because when this measurement is skipped, there is no way to ensure that your hearing aids are actually making speech audible for you. Most of the time, this means that your hearing aids are underperforming and not actually helping you hear as well as they should be.

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References

Abrams, H.B., Chisolm, T.H., McManus, M., & McArdle, R. (2012). Initial-fit approach versus verified prescription: comparing self-perceived hearing aid benefit. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 23(10),768-78.

Mueller, H.G. (2014, January). 20Q: Real-ear probe-microphone measures - 30 years of progress? AudiologyOnline, Article 12410. Retrieved from: https://www.audiologyonline.com