Speech Mapping, or Real Ear Measurement, is considered to be the gold standard of hearing aid fitting. It is used to ensure that your hearing aids are programmed for your individual needs. Essentially, your audiologist places a small tube (microphone) in your ears with and without your hearing aid(s), while calibrated sounds are played. This allows your audiologist to measure unique acoustics of your ear canal. As speech sounds are played at soft, conversational, and loud volume levels with the hearing aids in your ears, adjustments are made to the programming of the hearing aids. This ensures that you are the hearing aids are meeting targets (goals) of soft, conversational, loud speech. Sometimes you may wonder if it is your hearing that is changing or getting worse. Sometimes it’s not you hearing, but your hearing aids (and how they are programmed) that need attention and adjustment.
Real Ear Measurements allow your audiologist to essentially “see” what you are hearing through your hearing aids on a screen in real-time. When Real Ear curves hit targets (the dots on the screen) for soft, conversational, and speech goals, we know hearing aids are doing their job!
At Oracle Hearing Center, you can always be sure we perform Real Ear Measurement as the gold standard of hearing aid fitting. If you have hearing aids and need us to run Real Ear Measurement, reach out to us to schedule an appointment. We are conveniently located in Lawrenceville, NJ and easily accessible from many major highways.
Check out Dr. Cliff Olson’s video on the importance of Real Ear Measurements.
Want to see what Real Ear Measurements look like? Here is an actual clip of how they are measured on one of our patients. You can also view what a text book Real Ear Measurement looks like during one of our hearing aid fittings, here.