ABSTRACT
Recent survey data presented here indicate that audiologists exhibit no clear pattern
of preferred evaluation practices for hearing aids equipped with telecoils. The great
majority surveyed rely on informal patient judgments of sound quality rather than
on formal probe-microphone or speech-recognition measures. Formal telecoil-fitting
protocols are reviewed, but none has gained wide acceptance, perhaps due to the time
and equipment demands they present. Protocols that use an induction loop input do
not represent the true conditions of telephone use. Formal quantification of telecoil
performance in the patient's ear in response to a telephone input is thought to be
an important factor in achieving a successful outcome. Modern hearing aids with amplified,
programmable telecoils offer the means for increasing telecoil success, but that success
depends on optimizing telecoil performance using a standard set of tools that can
be applied quickly and consistently in the office. This article presents a practical
seven-step protocol for optimizing telecoil performance that includes hearing aid
requirements, suggested procedures, and a new, standard inductive signal source to
present a known speech or noise signal to the hearing aid during programming of the
telecoil memory.
KEYWORDS
Telecoil - quantification - Tel-Phone
