Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D. reviewing Real Ear Measurement results with a patient at Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus — probe microphone verification performed on every hearing aid fitting in American Fork, Spanish Fork, and South Jordan Utah.

Real Ear Measurement: The Verification Standard That Determines Whether Your Hearing Aids Actually Work

ByDr. Layne Garrett

By Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D., FAAA, ABAC, CH-TM, CDP | About | YouTube | Podcast | LinkedIn

Date Published: March 20, 2026

Most people who leave a hearing aid fitting appointment believe they’ve received care. They walked in with a hearing problem, sat through a fitting, received devices, and walked out. What they often don’t know — and rarely think to ask — is whether those hearing aids were ever verified to be delivering the right amount of sound for their specific ear.

If your hearing aids have ever disappointed you, this may be the reason: a fitting without verification is a fitting built on a guess. The hearing aids may be perfectly capable of helping — they may simply have never been correctly programmed for your ear.

That verification is called Real Ear Measurement. It is the clinical standard for confirming that a hearing aid fitting is actually correct — not approximately right for an average ear, but confirmed correct for yours. At Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus — serving patients across northern Utah from clinics in American Fork, Spanish Fork, and South Jordan — Real Ear Measurement is performed as a standard component of every adult hearing aid fitting, without exception. It is recommended by the American Academy of Audiology and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association as a best practice for every adult hearing aid fitting. And it is performed by fewer than 30% of clinics nationwide.¹

This page explains what Real Ear Measurement is, why it matters, what happens when it is skipped, and what patients across the Wasatch Front should know when evaluating the quality of hearing care they are receiving.

💡 Clinician’s Note

In over 20 years of clinical practice, I’ve seen the same pattern more times than I can count: a patient comes in frustrated, convinced hearing aids don’t work for them — and after a proper Real Ear Measurement and verification-based refitting, they hear better than they ever did with their previous devices. The technology wasn’t the problem. The fitting process was. Real Ear Measurement isn’t a premium add-on. It’s the minimum standard required to know whether a hearing aid is actually doing its job. — Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

  • Real Ear Measurement is the only way to verify that a hearing aid is delivering the correct amount of amplification for an individual’s ear — and it is performed by fewer than 30% of clinics nationwide despite being a recommended clinical standard.
  • Without Real Ear Measurement, hearing aids are programmed to a statistical average, not to the patient in the chair; the result is frequently too little amplification at the frequencies that matter most for speech clarity.
  • Patients who have tried hearing aids and been disappointed should not conclude that hearing aids cannot help them before confirming whether their previous fitting included verified Real Ear Measurement.

What Is Real Ear Measurement?

Real Ear Measurement (REM) — also called probe microphone measurement — is a clinical procedure that measures the actual sound pressure level produced by a hearing aid inside a specific patient’s ear canal while the hearing aid is being worn. It is the primary method audiologists use to verify that a hearing aid fitting is delivering the correct amplification at each frequency for a particular patient.

The essential logic is straightforward: programming a hearing aid based on an audiogram alone is an estimate. An audiogram tells the clinician how much hearing loss is present, but it cannot tell the clinician how much amplification will actually arrive at the eardrum after the hearing aid signal travels through that patient’s specific ear canal. Real Ear Measurement closes that gap. It replaces estimation with direct measurement.

Hearing aids are not simply microphones and speakers that make everything louder. They are designed to provide frequency-specific amplification — more gain at the frequencies where the patient has hearing loss, less or none at the frequencies where hearing is normal. The goal is to restore audibility to the sounds the patient is missing without over-amplifying the sounds they can already hear. Getting that balance right requires measurement.

Think of it this way: prescribing eyeglasses based on a general description of how blurry things look would produce a lens that works acceptably for some people with similar complaints but would be wrong for most. Real Ear Measurement is the equivalent of a formal refraction — the objective measurement that produces a prescription calibrated for the individual, not the average.

Why Ear Canal Anatomy Matters More Than Most People Realize

The human ear canal is not a standardized tube. It varies significantly between individuals in length, diameter, and shape — and those differences directly affect how much sound actually reaches the eardrum when a hearing aid is in use.

A phenomenon called real ear unaided gain describes the natural resonance of the open ear canal. In most adults, the ear canal amplifies frequencies around 2,000–4,000 Hz by approximately 10–15 dB as sound travels naturally to the eardrum.² When a hearing aid is inserted and the ear canal is partially or fully occluded, this natural resonance is altered — and the hearing aid’s programming must account for that change. Without measuring what is actually happening in the individual ear, the clinician is working from estimates that may be off by 10–20 dB or more at critical speech frequencies.³

The length of the ear canal is particularly variable. Children have shorter canals than adults; individual variation within any group is substantial. These differences mean that two patients with identical audiograms and identical hearing aids can receive dramatically different amounts of amplification at the eardrum if the fitting is not individually verified.⁴ The fit of the hearing aid dome or earmold, and the presence of cerumen, also influence the result. Real Ear Measurement accounts for all of these factors because it measures the actual outcome — not a calculated estimate of what that outcome should be.

How Real Ear Measurement Works: The Clinical Process

Real Ear Measurement is performed using a probe microphone system: a thin silicone tube with a small microphone at its tip, positioned in the ear canal alongside the hearing aid. The probe microphone captures the sound pressure at the measurement point — typically within a few millimeters of the eardrum — while the hearing aid is functioning normally.

The clinical process follows a clear sequence. First, a baseline measurement is taken with no hearing aid present, capturing the natural acoustic properties of the unaided ear canal. The hearing aid is then inserted alongside the probe tube, and the system measures the actual sound pressure the hearing aid produces inside that ear. This result is displayed on screen alongside the evidence-based prescriptive target for that patient’s audiogram. The clinician can see, frequency by frequency, whether the hearing aid is providing too much amplification, too little, or is matching the target. Where the response diverges from the target, the hearing aid is adjusted in real time and re-measured until the result is verified to be within an acceptable tolerance across the full frequency range.

A variant called speech mapping uses a sample of real speech rather than a tone sweep as the input signal. Speech mapping lets the clinician visualize the hearing aid’s response across the full dynamic range of conversational speech — soft, average, and loud — confirming that soft speech is made audible, average speech is comfortable, and loud speech is not amplified into an uncomfortable range. Many clinicians consider speech mapping the most patient-intuitive form of Real Ear Measurement because patients can directly see where speech sounds fall relative to their hearing loss and the amplification being delivered.

The procedure is not lengthy or uncomfortable. The probe tube is thin enough to be inserted comfortably alongside the hearing aid, and the measurement signals are at normal conversational levels. In a practiced clinician’s workflow, the full measurement and adjustment process typically adds 15–30 minutes to a fitting appointment.

Infographic comparing hearing aid gain without Real Ear Measurement versus with verification — showing how unverified fittings under-amplify high frequencies where speech clarity matters most.
Without verification, hearing aids routinely under-amplify the high frequencies where speech clarity lives. Real Ear Measurement confirms the fit is right — for your ear, not an average

💡 Clinician’s Note

One of the most common things I hear from patients who have never experienced Real Ear Measurement is that they assumed the fitting software was doing this automatically. It is not. Fitting software uses a mathematical model of an average ear to predict what the hearing aid will produce. That prediction can be substantially off for any individual patient. The measurement takes more time and requires additional equipment, but the alternative is guessing. — Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D.

What Real Ear Measurement Actually Measures

Real Ear Measurement produces several distinct measures, each serving a different purpose in the fitting process. Understanding them at a high level helps patients recognize what a thorough verification looks like.

The unaided measurement captures the natural acoustic properties of the ear canal before any device is present — the baseline. The aided response (REAR) measures the actual sound pressure produced by the active hearing aid inside the ear canal; this is the primary measure used to verify fitting accuracy. The insertion gain (REIG) represents the net amplification the hearing aid is adding, which is what gets compared to the prescriptive target. And the occluded response (REOR) — taken with the device inserted but inactive — quantifies how much the physical presence of the hearing aid alters the natural resonance of the ear, which informs decisions about dome or earmold fit.

Together, these measures give the clinician a complete picture of what the hearing aid is actually doing inside that patient’s ear — not what the manufacturer’s software predicts it should be doing.

The Prescriptive Targets Real Ear Measurement Verifies Against

Real Ear Measurement verifies that the right amount of amplification is being provided at the right frequencies. That verification is made against evidence-based prescriptive targets: formulas that calculate the optimal hearing aid gain for a given audiogram based on decades of research into speech intelligibility and patient outcome.

The two dominant prescriptive targets used in adult hearing aid fitting are NAL-NL2 and DSL v5.0.

NAL-NL2 (National Acoustic Laboratories Nonlinear Fitting Procedure, version 2) aims to maximize speech intelligibility across the full range of conversational input levels while maintaining overall loudness at a comfortable level. It is the most widely used prescriptive target in adult audiology.⁵

DSL v5.0 (Desired Sensation Level) targets audibility across the full bandwidth of speech and tends to recommend somewhat higher gain, particularly in the high frequencies. Some audiologists prefer DSL for patients with severe losses or for those requiring maximum audibility.⁶

Neither target is universally superior — clinical experience and individual hearing profiles both factor into the choice. What matters is that the fitting is verified against a validated, evidence-based prescription, not adjusted by subjective impression or manufacturer software defaults. Patients researching why a previous fitting may have underperformed will often encounter these terms; they are worth knowing because they represent the standard a clinician should be able to articulate when asked.

What Happens When Real Ear Measurement Is Skipped

When Real Ear Measurement is not performed, hearing aids are programmed using the manufacturer’s fitting software alone. That software takes the audiogram as its input and uses an acoustic model of an average ear to estimate the required gain. For a patient whose ear canal closely resembles the model, the estimate may be reasonably accurate. For most patients — particularly those with smaller or larger than average canals, or significant high-frequency hearing loss — it will be meaningfully off.

Research examining software-only fittings consistently finds significant deviation from prescriptive targets. Studies have found that software-only fittings frequently under-amplify the high frequencies where most patients have their greatest hearing loss — the exact frequencies responsible for speech clarity.⁷ ⁸

The practical consequences are predictable. Insufficient high-frequency gain — the most common problem — means speech may be audible but remains unclear. The patient can hear that someone is speaking but struggles to understand words, particularly in noise. This is the same complaint that brought them to evaluation in the first place. Excessive low-frequency gain produces sound that feels boomy or muddy. Over-amplification at uncomfortable levels — when output is not verified against the patient’s discomfort thresholds — causes loud sounds to feel harsh or painful, which is a frequent cause of hearing aid rejection, particularly in patients with loudness recruitment.

None of these are technology failures. All of them are fitting failures — and all of them are correctable with verification.

💡 Clinician’s Note

The most important thing I can say to patients who have tried hearing aids and given up is this: before concluding that hearing aids cannot help you, find out whether your previous fitting included Real Ear Measurement. In my experience, the majority of patients who report that hearing aids “didn’t work” were wearing devices that were never verified. The devices may have been perfectly capable of helping them — they simply were not programmed correctly for their ear. — Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D.

For a detailed look at the most common reasons hearing aid fittings fail — and why most of those failures are correctable — see Spent Thousands on Hearing Aids That Don’t Help? Here’s Why (And How to Fix It).

The Research Evidence Behind Real Ear Measurement

The case for Real Ear Measurement is not a matter of clinical opinion. It is supported by a substantial body of peer-reviewed research spanning several decades.

Studies comparing verified fittings to software-only fittings consistently find that verification produces better outcomes across multiple dimensions: improved speech recognition in quiet and noise, greater patient satisfaction, higher hearing aid use rates, and fewer return visits for adjustments.⁹ ¹⁰

A widely cited study by Kochkin et al. (2010) found that patients whose fittings included Real Ear Measurement reported significantly higher satisfaction and better self-reported hearing outcomes than those whose fittings did not.¹¹ Research by Aazh and Moore (2007) found that software-only fittings deviated from NAL-NL2 targets by an average of 10 dB or more at high frequencies in a substantial proportion of ears — a difference large enough to meaningfully affect speech understanding.⁷ Work by Abrams and Kihm (2015) found that verified fittings were associated with a 17% reduction in return visits for adjustments, reflecting the straightforward reality that a correct fitting at the outset requires fewer corrections afterward.¹²

The American Academy of Audiology’s clinical practice guidelines identify Real Ear Measurement as a recommended best practice for adult hearing aid fitting.¹³ The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association identifies it similarly as a standard of care.¹⁴ These positions reflect the accumulated weight of evidence — not aspirational statements about what clinicians should eventually get around to doing.

Real Ear Measurement and First-Time Hearing Aid Users

For first-time hearing aid users, Real Ear Measurement serves a particularly important function: it establishes a verified starting point. Hearing aid acclimatization — the gradual process of adjusting to amplified sound — is real and well-documented.¹⁵ The brain genuinely needs time to relearn how to process sounds it has not heard normally in years.

But acclimatization should not be confused with waiting for an inaccurate fitting to become tolerable. A patient who leaves a first fitting under-amplified by 10–15 dB at the frequencies most important for speech clarity is not experiencing a normal adjustment period — they are wearing incorrectly fitted devices. Real Ear Measurement allows the clinician to distinguish between a verified fitting the patient is adjusting to and an unverified fitting that simply needs to be corrected. That distinction matters enormously for first-time users who might otherwise conclude, after months of struggling, that hearing aids simply are not for them.

⬛ Bottom Line

A new hearing aid fitting that does not include Real Ear Measurement has no way to confirm that the devices are working correctly for that patient’s ear. Adjusting to hearing aids is a reasonable expectation. Adjusting to an inaccurate fitting is not a plan.

Real Ear Measurement for Patients Who Have Struggled With Hearing Aids Before

Patients with prior hearing aid experience — particularly those who abandoned previous devices — represent the group for whom Real Ear Measurement is most consequential. The most common reason hearing aids fail experienced users is the same as for first-time users: the fitting was never verified.

A patient who tried hearing aids and found them hollow, tinny, or simply not worth wearing is describing recognizable fitting problems. Hollow or muddy sound typically reflects over-amplification in the low frequencies relative to the high frequencies. Tinny or harsh sound often reflects over-amplification at specific high-frequency bands. Neither is a feature of the technology. Both are correctable.

Patients with steeply sloping audiograms — good low-frequency hearing, significant high-frequency loss, the most common pattern in age-related and noise-induced hearing loss — are particularly prone to poorly verified fittings. The fitting challenge for that audiogram profile is more complex, and manufacturer software defaults that perform acceptably for a flat mild loss often perform poorly for a steep high-frequency loss. This is the patient who most needs verification and is most likely to have never received it.

For a broader clinical picture of what determines hearing aid outcomes, the Hearing Aids: A Clinical Guide to Understanding and Treatment pillar covers the full fitting and treatment process in depth.

Real Ear Measurement and Tinnitus Management

For patients managing both hearing loss and tinnitus, Real Ear Measurement plays an additional role that is often overlooked. Hearing aids are among the most effective tinnitus management tools available for patients with concurrent hearing loss — in part because amplifying the ambient sounds the patient has been missing reduces the contrast between tinnitus and the listening environment, making the tinnitus less perceptually prominent. This mechanism only works if the hearing aids are amplifying the right frequencies at the right levels.

The most common tinnitus pitch range in patients with high-frequency sensorineural loss sits precisely in the frequency band that software-only fittings most often under-amplify. When hearing aids are not reaching those frequencies adequately, the amplification benefit for tinnitus management is substantially reduced. Real Ear Measurement ensures that amplification is reaching the frequencies relevant to both speech understanding and tinnitus relief.

Sound therapy features built into modern hearing aids — notch therapy, fractal tone programs, broadband noise masking — are also most effective when the hearing aid’s base amplification has been accurately calibrated first. Accurate calibration begins with Real Ear Measurement.

For patients managing tinnitus alongside hearing loss, Understanding Tinnitus: A Comprehensive Guide to Causes, Mechanisms, and Evidence-Based Treatment covers the full range of treatment pathways, including the role of hearing aids and sound therapy in tinnitus management.

Why Most Clinics Skip It

If Real Ear Measurement is recommended by every major professional audiology body and supported by decades of outcome research, why do fewer than 30% of clinics perform it?

Several factors contribute. A probe microphone measurement system costs several thousand dollars — an investment that retail hearing aid chains and high-volume dispensing operations frequently do not make, because it does not directly generate revenue per device sold. The procedure adds 15–30 minutes to a fitting appointment, which has a real cost in a model organized around throughput. And performing Real Ear Measurement accurately requires clinical training and ongoing practice that not all practitioners who dispense hearing aids have received.

The more fundamental issue is structural. Most patients do not know to ask whether Real Ear Measurement will be performed. In the absence of that expectation, a high-volume dispensing model has little incentive to add the time, equipment, and expertise the procedure requires. Practices organized around device sales and retail throughput are simply not structured to prioritize clinical verification.

The practices that perform Real Ear Measurement consistently are those organized around a medical model of care — where the clinical outcome for the patient is the primary measure of a successful fitting, not the transaction that preceded it.

Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D. consulting with a patient at Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus — one of fewer than 30% of clinics nationwide that performs Real Ear Measurement verification on every adult hearing aid fitting.
Every fitting at Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus includes Real Ear Measurement verification — a standard performed by fewer than 30% of clinics nationwide.

⬛ Bottom Line

The reason most clinics skip Real Ear Measurement is not that it is difficult or unimportant. It is that verification requires time, equipment, and clinical investment that the retail dispensing model is not designed to provide. Real Ear Measurement is one of the clearest indicators of whether a clinic is organized around clinical outcomes or device sales.

The distinction between these two care models is examined in depth in Hearing Loss: The Complete Guide. For a direct comparison of provider types, see Should You Buy Hearing Aids Online, from a Big-Box Store, or See a Specialist?

What to Ask Before a Hearing Aid Fitting

Patients have every right to ask direct questions about the fitting process before committing to care. These questions will quickly reveal whether a clinic’s protocol includes Real Ear Measurement.

“Do you perform Real Ear Measurement on every adult hearing aid fitting?” A clinic that performs it routinely will answer yes without hesitation and will be able to describe what the process involves. A clinic that does not may say they use fitting software, or that their system is “very accurate,” or that they adjust based on how the patient feels. None of those answers are equivalent to Real Ear Measurement.

“What prescriptive target do you verify against — NAL-NL2 or DSL?” This distinguishes clinicians who understand the framework from those who do not. A clinician performing Real Ear Measurement will know exactly what target they use and why.

“If the measurement doesn’t match the target, how do you adjust?” This confirms that the measurement is not simply being performed as a documentation step without acting on the results. The answer should describe a real-time adjustment process with re-measurement to confirm the correction.

“Can you show me the Real Ear Measurement results during the fitting?” Most probe microphone systems display results graphically in real time. A clinician performing Real Ear Measurement will readily show the patient what the screen shows — the target, what the hearing aids are producing, and how closely they match.

“How do I know if my previous audiologist performed Real Ear Measurement?” If you do not remember a thin probe tube being placed in your ear canal alongside your hearing aid during the fitting, it almost certainly was not performed. The procedure is distinctive enough that most patients who have experienced it remember it.

A credential on the wall does not answer these questions. A doctorate in audiology or a board certification does not guarantee that Real Ear Measurement is performed in that clinic. The clinical process in the room is what matters, and asking about it directly is entirely appropriate.

For a broader look at what separates high-quality hearing care from retail dispensing, What Makes a Hearing Aid Truly Great? examines the fitting and verification factors with the greatest effect on outcomes — independent of device brand or price.

Real Ear Measurement Across the Wasatch Front

Across northern and central Utah — from Spanish Fork and Provo north through American Fork, Lehi, Pleasant Grove, Salt Lake City, Murray, Sandy, Draper, and South Jordan — hearing aid dispensing is available through a range of provider types: independent audiology practices, retail chains, big-box stores, and online platforms. These options differ substantially in clinical depth, fitting protocols, and the standards applied to verification.

Real Ear Measurement is not a standard offering across this market. Most retail and big-box hearing providers do not invest in probe microphone equipment or the training required to use it accurately. For patients across the Wasatch Front, the relevant question is not which device brand is available nearby — it is whether the provider will confirm, through direct measurement, that whatever devices they fit are actually calibrated for the individual ear they are fitting.

At Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus, Real Ear Measurement is performed as a standard component of every adult hearing aid fitting at our American Fork, Spanish Fork, and South Jordan locations — opening spring 2026 to serve Salt Lake County patients. It is not a premium tier, not an optional add-on, and not something patients need to specifically request. It is the clinical baseline — because a fitting without it is not a verified fitting.

The reception area at Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus in American Fork, Utah — welcoming tinnitus patients from across the Wasatch Front for comprehensive evaluation and evidence-based treatment.
Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus — American Fork, Utah. Evidence-based hearing care with Real Ear Measurement verification on every fitting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Real Ear Measurement hurt?

No. The probe tube is a thin silicone tube, slightly smaller in diameter than a typical earbud. It is placed in the ear canal alongside the hearing aid with a small reference microphone resting at the entrance to the ear. Patients typically describe the sensation as similar to having a standard hearing aid or earbud inserted. The measurement signals are at normal conversational levels.

How long does Real Ear Measurement take?

In a practiced clinician’s workflow, Real Ear Measurement typically adds 15–30 minutes to a standard hearing aid fitting appointment. The measurement itself takes a few minutes per ear; the time spent adjusting the hearing aid to match the prescriptive target varies depending on how closely the manufacturer’s default programming aligns with the verified target for that patient.

Can Real Ear Measurement be performed on any hearing aid?

Yes. Real Ear Measurement is brand- and model-agnostic. The probe microphone measures what is actually in the ear canal regardless of which manufacturer’s device is producing it. All major hearing aid fitting software platforms accept Real Ear Measurement data and allow adjustments based on verified measurements rather than software estimates.

Is Real Ear Measurement covered by insurance?

Coverage varies by plan. Some insurance plans that include hearing aid benefits also cover audiological services performed as part of the fitting process, including verification. Patients should confirm their specific benefit structure with their insurer. At Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus, the cost of verification-based fitting is included in the hearing treatment plan — it is not billed separately.

I’ve had hearing aids for years. Can Real Ear Measurement help me now?

Yes. Real Ear Measurement can be performed on existing hearing aids to determine whether the current programming matches a verified prescriptive target. For long-term hearing aid users who feel their devices could be performing better — or who have never had a verification-based fitting — measurement of the current programming is a straightforward clinical starting point. It frequently reveals the source of longstanding complaints that were never adequately addressed.

What if the Real Ear Measurement shows my hearing aids are already correct?

That is a valid and useful outcome. Confirming that the fitting is verified allows the clinical conversation to move to other explanations for any remaining difficulty — word recognition performance, auditory processing, communication strategy, or the acoustic limitations of hearing aid technology in specific environments. Real Ear Measurement narrows the diagnostic picture by confirming or ruling out the fitting as a variable. Either outcome is informative.

Does Real Ear Measurement need to be repeated if my hearing changes?

Yes. If hearing thresholds change meaningfully — which is common in progressive hearing loss — the prescriptive targets change as well. A fitting verified to a previous audiogram may no longer be optimal for an updated one. Re-verification is a standard component of follow-up care at practices that treat hearing aid fitting as an ongoing clinical process rather than a one-time transaction.

References & Further Reading

  1. Kochkin S, Beck DL, Christensen LA, et al. MarkeTrak VIII: The impact of the hearing healthcare professional on hearing aid user success. Hearing Review. 2010;17(4):12–34.
  2. Shaw EAG. The external ear. In: Keidel WD, Neff WD, eds. Handbook of Sensory Physiology. Springer; 1974.
  3. Dillon H. Hearing Aids. 2nd ed. Thieme; 2012.
  4. Keidser G, Dillon H, Carter L, O’Brien A. NAL-NL2 empirical adjustments. Trends in Amplification. 2012;16(4):211–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1084713812468511
  5. Scollie S, Seewald R, Cornelisse L, et al. The desired sensation level multistage input/output algorithm. Trends in Amplification. 2005;9(4):159–197. https://doi.org/10.1177/108471380500900403
  6. Aazh H, Moore BCJ. The value of routine real ear measurement of the gain of digital hearing aids. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. 2007;18(8):653–664. https://doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.18.8.3
  7. Mueller HG. 20Q: Real ear measurement — basic terminology and concepts. Audiology Online. 2014. https://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/20q-real-ear-measurement-basic-12410
  8. Valente M, Oeding K. Outcome measures: Do hearing aids fit to targets improve speech recognition in noise and subjective outcomes compared to hearing aids not fit to targets? Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. 2015;26(3):297–312. https://doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.26.3.8
  9. Humes LE, Dubno JR, Gordon-Salant S, et al. Central presbycusis: A review and evaluation of the evidence. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. 2012;23(8):635–666. https://doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.23.8.5
  10. Abrams HB, Kihm J. An introduction to MarkeTrak IX: A new baseline for the hearing aid market. Hearing Review. 2015;22(6):16.
  11. American Academy of Audiology. Clinical Practice Guidelines: Adult Hearing Aid Fitting. Reston, VA: American Academy of Audiology; 2024. https://www.audiology.org/clinical-resources/clinical-practice-guidelines/
  12. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Hearing Aid Fitting for Adults: Technical Report. ASHA; 2020. https://www.asha.org/policy/
  13. Munro KJ. Reorganization of the cortex following hearing loss and hearing aid fitting. International Journal of Audiology. 2008;47(Suppl 2):S39–S46. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992020802307548

Ready for a Verified Hearing Aid Fitting?

If your previous hearing aids never quite worked the way you hoped — or if you’re considering hearing aids for the first time and want to start with care that confirms results rather than estimates them — verification-based fitting is the right next step.

The question is not whether hearing aids can help you. For most patients with sensorineural hearing loss, they can. The question is whether your fitting has ever been confirmed to be correct for your ear. If it hasn’t, that’s where to start.

Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus 

American Fork, UT (801) 763-0725 | Spanish Fork, UT (801) 798-7210 | South Jordan, UT (Opening Spring 2026)

Request Your Consultation 

About the Author

Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D., FAAA, ABAC, CH-TM, CDP is the founder of Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus, with locations in American Fork and Spanish Fork, Utah. He holds a doctorate in audiology and board certification through the American Board of Audiology, with specialty certifications in tinnitus management (CH-TM) and dementia care (CDP). Dr. Garrett has spent more than 20 years specializing in hearing loss and tinnitus—with a particular clinical focus on patients who have been told their tinnitus is untreatable, or whose prior hearing aid experiences were unsuccessful. His 90% tinnitus success rate reflects both the depth of his evaluation protocols and a comprehensive, multimodal treatment approach that most general audiology practices do not offer. Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus is one of only 14 preferred provider clinics for Lenire bimodal neuromodulation therapy in the United States, among the first clinics in the country to integrate Heart Rate Variability monitoring into tinnitus treatment, and an early adopter of LACE-AI Pro auditory rehabilitation protocols. Every hearing aid fitting at Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus includes Real Ear Measurement verification—a standard performed by fewer than 30% of clinics nationwide. Dr. Garrett participates in humanitarian audiology missions through Hearing the Call and operates a local program providing hearing aids at no cost to qualifying Utah residents earning below 250% of the federal poverty level. Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus has also established a partnership with Bingham Family Clinic to expand access to evidence-based hearing care for underserved patients across the Wasatch Front. He produces regular educational content on audiology, tinnitus, cognitive hearing health, and emerging treatments to help patients and families make fully informed decisions.

Date Reviewed/Modified: March 20, 2026

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