In the past few years we’ve all seen the advertisements online or on television for “high tech hearing aids” that you can get mailed to you. As most advertisements do, they make it seem like these aids are the best you can get and will work wonderfully. However, there are many challenges that go along with online or over the counter hearing aids. One major issue is getting a proper fit of the hearing aid for your specific hearing loss. It may be difficult to figure out how to make the hearing aid fit on your ear properly without a skilled professional helping. It is virtually impossible to ensure that a hearing aid is fitting correctly and at the right amplification levels without doing a real ear measurement, which needs to be done in person.
One thing that any good audiologist will do when fitting a hearing aid is a real ear measurement. A real ear measurement is a personalized fitting for the specific shape and size of an individual’s ear canal. This allows for optimal sound quality from the hearing aid and fitting each frequency range to the individual’s hearing loss. Real ear measurements have been shown to increase satisfaction for the patient (Beck 2010). This is likely because a hearing aid that is fit properly will provide optimal speech understanding for the individual.
A real ear measurement is done by inserting a small tube in the patient’s ear. This tube will be placed close to the individual’s ear drum to determine the amount of gain that is getting to the eardrum in each frequency range. The hearing aids will be placed in the patient’s ear as well, so that the function of the aids can be measured. The individual will be asked to face a speaker which will play sounds or voices at different volume levels. The audiologist will then take some time to make adjustments to the hearing aid to make sure that each frequency is in the target range for the patient’s hearing loss. This process does not take long, generally under 15 minutes, but provides a wealth of knowledge. In addition to increased satisfaction rates, the number of hearing aid returns are lower when real ear measurements are performed.
When hearing aids are ordered online and sent to the consumer, generally the individuals hearing test is used to program the hearing aids before they are sent. This may sound like all that needs to happen, however, without a real ear measurement, the levels put into the hearing aid are a mere guess based on an “average ear.” This method using a standard “one size fits all” will most often leave the individual under fit or over fit. Each frequency range should be measured to determine the correct level for each person wearing hearing aids.
Some people are unaware that getting used to hearing aids can be a process. The brain has been used to hearing a certain way for so long, that sometimes it is uncomfortable or overwhelming to hear so many sounds that haven’t been heard for a long time. Sometimes, an individual may take a few weeks or even months to adapt to the optimal sound levels that their hearing aids should be at. It is extremely important to have a skill professional, like an audiologist, to make those adjustments to the aids and guide the patient to get to a level that is ideal. When a hearing aid is ordered online, if the person sets the aid to a comfortable level and does not have a skilled professional guiding them toward the optimal sound levels, they will miss out on the full benefit of the hearing aid.
Hearing aid fittings can be more challenging than they seem. The guidance of a skilled audiologist to make sure that the appropriate tests, like a real ear measurement, are performed is essential. Not only will the audiologist make sure that the necessary tests are done, they will ensure that the patient is fit at the optimal level and guide them through any issues that may arise. Hearing well is so essential to brain health, so make sure you take the steps to get the best fit and optimal levels on your hearing aids.
