Raleigh Audiology Practice Is First To Address The Needs of Hearing Impaired People With New FDA Cleared Medical Device And An Advanced Hearing Aid Fitting System            

For Immediate Release-
Raleigh, NC-

Now Hear This, a new audiology clinic in Raleigh, NC is the first private practice in the U.S. to employ a new hearing aid fitting device cleared by the FDA.  It customizes the performance of any hearing aid to meet the exact needs of the patient.   Used by a trained audiologist, it enables Now Hear This to do a procedure called Real Ear Measurement on every patient, along with other advanced procedures.  This is in sharp contrast to virtually all other U.S. hearing aids shops and practices, and follows the standard of care prescribed by universities and national audiology academies.

“As the standard of care, universities train audiologists and hearing professionals to do Real Ear Measurement 100% of the time on every patient, but in reality these measurements are performed on a small fraction of patients seen in private practice. Some industry experts estimate only 10-20%,” said Philip Griffin, Doctor of Audiology at Now Hear This.

This lapse is a primary reason many hearing aids and hearing aid dispensers have developed bad reputations.  An article in Consumer Reports (July 2009,) identified that it isn’t the hearing aids: it’s the hearing aid fitting that is the problem.

Now Hear This uses a unique fitting philosophy in combination with ACAM® 5, a device manufactured by the German company, Acousticon.  It was designed by audiologists for audiologists, and essentially automates the use of a number of advanced tools and technologies.  Audiologists using the procedures have reported that it increases patient satisfaction up to 80%.

“Fitting systems that address the patient’s individual hearing needs are the best methods to accurately determine a patient’s hearing loss and measure the effectiveness of a patient’s hearing aid,” said Griffin. “Proper fitting is much more than ensuring that the hearing aid fits comfortably in the ear.  It means the audiologist has taken the time to use tools and technologies that will give the patient the ability to understand speech and hear the sounds of life in the most natural way possible.”

Consumer Reports found that two-thirds of patient’s who purchase hearing aids were not fitted properly by the hearing aid provider, which resulted in the aids being amplified too little or too much.

Dr. Griffin believes that an accurate and verified hearing aid fitting is essential, and provides the patient with the best opportunity to hear clearly. “Properly fitting hearing aids with Real-Ear Measurements is the standard of care for every fitting,” said Griffin. “It’s a shame that more hearing professionals don’t do it. We do.”

Now Hear This employs a unique patient first approach, spending more one-on-one time with the patients to fully perfect the hearing aid fitting. This allows Now Hear This to precisely tailor the hearing aid’s sound quality to the patient’s individual ears and their individual prescription. By spending more time up front with the medical professionals at Now Hear This, patients typically will have less return visits to the audiologist than at standard hearing practices.

Technology and Experience

The hearing professionals at Now Hear This have been extensively trained on an array of advanced fitting procedures in Germany by the Acousticon team. Audiologists using these fitting procedures have seen dramatic results in patient hearing including:  improved ability to hear and understand speech in all ambient noise conditions, more comfortable hearing aids and less reports of “too loud” hearing aids.

The Now Hear This system uses a series of tests to identify the severity of the hearing loss and measure how effectively hearing aids respond to that loss.

The ACAM Fitting System Components Include:

Loudness scaling technology that accurately measures how the patient perceives and interprets sound coming from their hearing aid in order to more precisely calculate the most comfortable sound level.  Called TruTarget®, it diagnoses exactly how loud a sound should be coming from a hearing aid.

Real-Ear Measurements (REM):  Called TruFit® by the Now Hear This audiologist, it  measures the exact sound emitted from the hearing aid and ensures that audiologist can precisely amplify a patient’s hearing aid based on information from the TruTarget® Loudness Scaling tests.

Now Hear This found that by spending more time with patients and using these and other specialized tests of ACAM® 5, audiologists can better identify a patient’s hearing loss, adjust hearing aids programmed with other systems and optimize patients’ hearing as their abilities change over time.
 Learn More About Now Hear This And The Innovative Fitting Procedures

For more information about Now Hear This, the individual fitting systems and the
ACAM 5®; visit www.NowHearThisClinic.com or contact Peter Dawyot at The Publicus Community [email protected] or by phone at 919.885.4299