Real-Ear Measurements 147
7. Experiment in this manner with different distances. This will help dem-
onstrate how close your patient and his spouse need to be to each other to
maximum speech intelligibility.
Notes
The target displayed in the Real Ear SPL screen when in spectrum analysis
mode assumes a 60 dB SPL input level.
5.6.2 Measuring the occlusion effect
If you have the Composite/Digital Speech Option, you can use the Aided &
Unaided screen in order to measure the “occlusion effect” of a hearing aid. By
analyzing the spectrum of your patient’s own voice, you can judge whether the
occlusion effect will make the hearing aid uncomfortable, and you can measure
an improvement (lessening) of the occlusion effect after adjusting the vent open-
ing.
To set up for measuring the occlusion effect:
1. Enter the Unaided & Aided screen. See Section 5.1.2 for instructions.
2. Follow the instructions in Section 5.2.4 to insert the probe tube into your
patient’s ear. There is no need to level the sound field speaker when measur-
ing the occlusion effect.
3. Insert the patient’s hearing aid, being careful not to move the probe tube.
The hearing aid can be turned on or off.
4. Use [F2] to select UNAIDED.
5. Use [F4] to select COMP.
6. Press [
∨] repeatedly until the SOURCE is turned OFF. This is displayed in
the source box on the display above the F3 key.
7. Press [MENU] to open the local menu, and use the arrow keys to change
NOISE RED (COMP) to 16X. This will increase the amount of averaging the
analyzer does when the measurements are performed.
To measure the occlusion effect:
1. Press [START/STOP] to start the measurement.
2. Instruct your client to sustain the vowel sound “eee.”
3. Press [START/STOP] while the “eee” is still sounding and the curve has sta-
bilized. The patient can now stop vocalizing.
4. Look at the gain in the low frequencies. If it seems high, you may consider
adjusting the vent to a more open condition in order to prevent occlusion-
effect discomfort.
