Real Ear Measurement

Yes. If your hearing aids never sounded right, or they've spent more time in a drawer than in your ears, a REM check is a good place to start. We work with all major manufacturers, so we can measure most devices bought at another practice and see whether they meet the target for your hearing loss.

If your last hearing test is more than a year old, we'll usually start with a new one so the target is accurate. Often, careful reprogramming makes a clear difference for hearing aids not working right. Some older or locked devices can't be reprogrammed, and we'll tell you up front if that's the case. For cracks, dead sound, or other physical problems, see our hearing aid repairs page.

Fitting software starts from your hearing test and an average adult ear canal. Real ears vary a lot. A larger canal, a smaller one, or a different shape changes how sound builds up near the eardrum, so the default can land well above or below what you need.

The pitches most often missed are the high ones, where sounds like s, f, and th live. Those consonants are how you tell words like "fifty" and "sixty" apart, so missing them makes voices seem loud but unclear. Measuring in your own ear lets us close those gaps, and many patients notice that conversations with grandchildren or at church are easier to follow.

We run REM at every new fitting and again at every annual check-up. Hearing often changes a little from year to year, and earwax, tubing, domes, and normal wear can all shift what reaches your eardrum. A yearly measurement catches those changes before they start costing you conversations.

Come in sooner if speech suddenly seems muffled or tinny, or if a new hearing test shows a change. Patients who live farther out in the High Desert or the Central Valley can often handle small tweaks through remote programming, then save the in-office REM check for the yearly visit. You can read about the full process on our hearing aid fitting page.