Evaluation of a protocol for fitting a wearable master hearing aid.

An experimental protocol for the prescriptive fitting of a wearable master hearing aid was evaluated. The protocol consisted of four stages: (i) acquisition of baseline audiometric data, (ii) fixed test battery using speech-in-noise as the test material, (iii) adaptive adjustments, and (iv) evaluative comparative data. The results showed that systematic improvements in hearing-aid performance were obtained as a result of using the experimental protocol and that the largest improvements were obtained during the fixed-test-battery stage. The protocol in its present form is not clinically practical for most situations.