According to our 5-star-rated audiologist, recent studies on hearing aid use have made an astounding discovery. Although hearing aid technology has improved significantly during the last decade, hearing instrument user satisfaction has not increased at the same rate! If you wear hearing aids or are thinking of pursuing hearing loss rehabilitation, this may be the most important article you read all year! Keep reading to learn more about Los Gatos, CA, hearing aid measurements and how to ensure a 5-star hearing aid experience for yourself.
What Is Wrong with Today’s Hearing Aids?
Reports published by Hearing Review and the Hearing Journal indicate that 34.25 million people in the United States suffer from some type of hearing loss. Of those people with significant hearing loss, 25% already own hearing instruments, and the majority of these owners experience moderate-to-severe hearing loss.
More than one million of these patients are not “satisfied” with their hearing instruments and confess to leaving them “in the drawer.” If hearing instrument technology and design have improved, why are people not having an improved experience?
Key factors expressed for keeping “hearing instruments in the drawer” are…
- Not enough benefit
- Poor fit
- Unacceptable discomfort
- Unsatisfactory performance with background noise
How to Improve Your Hearing Aid Experience
Our goal at Los Gatos Audiology is to help our patients achieve the best benefit possible from their hearing instruments. Studies have shown that if your audiologist or specialist adjusts your hearing aid solely based upon the manufacturer’s fitting algorithm, without real-ear testing, it may result in an inaccurate hearing prescription. Studies found that these initial-fit algorithms are often an inadequate amplification prescription, and research in England showed improvement in patient satisfaction when patients were fit with real-ear measurement.
What are Real-Ear Measurements (REM)?
Real-ear measurements provide a method for objectively assessing the accuracy of a hearing aid fitting. The reason for real-ear measurements is that individual ears are very different between patients, and occasionally one ear can even differ from the other ear on the same patient! Those differences have a major effect on the benefit a hearing instrument provides to the wearer. The only way to truly account for those individual ear differences is for your audiologist to take a physical measurement of how your hearing aid is amplifying sound in the specific ear canal. Real-ear measurements make this possible, and that is why they are considered the “gold standard” method for achieving a proper hearing aid fit.
Learn More About Real-Ear Los Gatos, CA, Hearing Aid Measurements Today!
At Los Audiology, we use the most advanced equipment on the market to measure Real-Ear Measurements (REM) on our patients who use hearing instruments. Real-ear testing enables measurement of the sound delivered by a specific hearing aid in the ear canal of a specific individual. It is the most accurate procedure for measuring actual results. If you are interested in having an optimum hearing experience, real-ear measurement provides the most accurate information to fit your hearing aid. Schedule a free, no-obligation appointment with our 5-star-rated audiologist today!
The information provided in this article is not meant to be medical advice and is for educational purposes only. If you would like to learn more about this and other topics related to audiology, feel free to contact Los Gatos Audiology, with a convenient hearing center located in Los Gatos, CA, by clicking here or by calling 408.354.1312.