A preliminary investigation into hearing aid fitting based on automated real-ear measurements integrated in the fitting software: test-retest reliability, matching accuracy and perceptual outcomes

• Published in: International journal of audiology Vol. 58; no. 3; pp. 132 - 140
• Main Authors: Denys, Sam, Latzel, Matthias, Francart, Tom, Wouters, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 04-03-2019
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Cross-Over Studies; hearing aid fitting; Hearing Aids; Humans; Middle Aged; Real-ear measurements (REM); Software; Speech Discrimination Tests; speech intelligibility; target mismatch; verification; Young Adult; Real-ear measurements (REM); target mismatch; speech intelligibility; verification; hearing aid fitting
• ISSN: 1499-2027; 1708-8186
• DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2018.1543958

Objective: The recent integration of automated real-ear measurements (REM) in the fitting software facilitates the hearing aid fitting process. Such a fitting strategy, TargetMatch (TM), was evaluated. Test-retest reliability and matching accuracy were quantified, and compared to a REM-based fitting with manual adjustment. Also, it was investigated whether TM leads to better perceptual outcomes compared to a FirstFit (FF) approach, using software predictions only.
Design and study sample: Ten hearing impaired participants were enrolled in a counterbalanced single-blinded cross-over study comparing TM and FF. Aided audibility, speech intelligibility and real-life benefits were assessed. Repeated measurements of both TM and REMs with manual adjustment were performed.
Results: Compared to a REM-based fitting with manual adjustment, TM had higher test-retest reliability. Also, TM outperformed the other fitting strategies in terms of matching accuracy. Compared to a FF, improved aided audibility and real-life benefits were found. Speech intelligibility did not improve.
Conclusions: Preliminary data suggest that automated REMs increase the likelihood of meeting amplification targets compared with a FF. REMs integrated in the fitting software provide additional reliability and accuracy compared to traditional REMs. Findings need to be verified in a larger and more varied sample.