Repeatability of a Real-Ear-to-Coupler Difference Measurement as a Function of Age

For a given individual, the applicability of an average real-ear-to-coupler transfer function in the fitting of hearing aids is of limited utility, because the acoustical properties of individual ears may differ substantially from average transformation values (Feigin, Kopun, Stelmachowicz, & Gorga, 1989; Fikret-Pasa & Revit, 1992). It has been suggested, therefore, that individual real-ear-to-coupler difference (RECD) measures should be obtained whenever possible and applied within the fitting process (Hawkins, 1992; Nelson Barlow, Auslander, Rines, & Stelmachowicz, 1988). The purpose of this study was to investigate the repeatability of a specific RECD measurement procedure that has been developed for clinical application with young children (Moodie, Seewald, & Sinclair, 1994). The test-retest reliability of this procedure is reported for 10 adults and 90 children in the birth-to-7-year age range.