Selecting, verifying, and evaluating hearing aids for children

This article examines issues relating to selecting, verifying, and evaluating hearing aids that are vital to the provision of effective amplification for children. The physical effects of ear canal sizes on hearing assessment and hearing aid adjustment and verification are well understood, and solutions that are readily applicable are summarized. The issue of whether children need different real-ear frequency response and gain than adults with similar hearing losses is rather controversial. A background for understanding how and why two widely-used prescriptions for children differ is provided, followed by a review of research to address the commonly asked but unresolved questions of whether children need more high-frequency audibility and more overall gain than adults with similar hearing losses. Finally, a range of methods for evaluating individual fittings of children are described. These include functional assessment approaches, preference-based evaluations, and electrophysiologically-based measurements.