According to our 5-star-rated Milford, MA, 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 how to ensure a 5-star hearing aid experience for yourself.
What Is Wrong with Today's Hearing Aids? Our Milford, MA, Audiologist Explains
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
Our Milford, MA, Audiologist Discusses How to Improve Your Hearing Aid Experience
Our goal at Hearing & Balance Centers of New England is to help our patients achieve the best benefit possible from their hearing instruments. Studies have shown that if your Milford 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 in Milford, MA, 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.
Schedule a FREE Hearing Consultation with Our Milford, MA, Audiologist & Learn More About Real-Ear Measurements Today!
At Hearing & Brain Centers of New England, 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 Milford, MA, audiologist or hearing specialist today by clicking here or calling 508.753.8155.