Real Ear Measurement vs. Auto Hearing Aid Programming. Dr. Cliff Olson, Audiologist and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Anthem Arizona, shows the difference between a customized hearing aid fitting using Real Ear Measurement versus a hearing aid fitting using the manufacturer's first fit settings (auto-programming).

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Today's hearing aids have the capability of being Auto-Programmed otherwise known as the Manufacturers First-Fit settings. The problem is, these settings are not verifiable because you can only verify a validated hearing aid prescription like NAL or DSL.

What is a prescription? Different hearing losses require different levels of amplification at different frequency ranges. There are a variety of factors that impact this, including severity of hearing loss, age, gender, experience with amplification.

Based on years of research, we know that using Real Ear Measurement provides a superior fitting than the settings provided by the Auto-Program button. This was once again confirmed by a study at Washington University: ii. [ Ссылка ]

There are several types of validated prescriptive methods.

1. NAL-R - Used for Linear Hearing Aid Programming

2. NAL-NL1 - Used for Non-Linear Hearing Aid Programming for Adults

3. Nal-NL2 - Updated version for Non-Linear Hearing Aid Programming for Adults

4. DSL - Prescriptive method for children which is now on its 5th version

Ensuring that one of these prescriptions are used and verified inside of hearing aids is critical for performance. These are verified by using a microphone probe tube inserted into the ear canal along with hearing aids to check the amount of amplification coming out of the hearing aid. The problem is, most hearing care professionals do not verify that the prescriptive targets are being met.

Hearing Aid Manufacturers aren't stupid. They know providers don't verify fittings. This is why they under-prescribe amplification, particularly in the high frequencies. This creates a situation where patients have improved perceived sound quality but sacrificing speech clarity.

Every time I check to see how close the manufacturer's First-Fit Auto-Settings come to the prescription, they are never close. Example after example in this video clearly indicate poor prescriptive estimates. Even though many people feel that hearing aids can auto-calibrate to a hearing loss, this theory is constantly disproven by verification.

Hopefully you now understand why verifying hearing aid programming using Real Ear Measurement is so critical to success with hearing aids. Do not settle for hearing aid fittings that rely on the Auto-Program settings using Manufacturer's First-Fit. This is ultimately setting you up for a sub-par fitting.

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