Real Ear Measurement, or REM, is a verification step where a thin probe microphone sits in your ear canal alongside your hearing aid. While you listen to speech played at different volumes, the probe measures exactly what is reaching your eardrum in real time. Your audiologist sees the results on a screen and can adjust the programming until it matches your actual prescription instead of an estimate.
Without REM, your hearing aids are set using something called a "manufacturer first fit." It's a starting point built around average ear canal dimensions, not yours. For too many patients, that starting point is also where the fitting ends.
Imagine visiting an eye doctor who hands you glasses based on the average prescription for someone your age, then sends you home without testing your actual vision. You'd probably push back on that. Yet that's essentially what happens when hearing aids are fit without verification.
Your ear canal shape, your specific hearing loss, and the way your ears respond to different frequencies do not get factored in without a real measurement. The devices might help or even feel acceptable at first. However, acceptable and correct are not the same thing, especially when you are spending thousands of dollars.
Here's the part most patients don't know: in California and most other states, REM isn't legally required. Providers can fit hearing aids without it and stay fully within the law.
So, many do. Some rely entirely on the manufacturer's first fit and adjust based on whatever feedback you give in the office. That sounds reasonable on the surface, but there is a real problem with it. Most patients in their first few appointments cannot describe what "correct" amplification is supposed to feel like. Because you do not have a baseline, you and your provider are essentially guessing.
Every major hearing healthcare organization considers REM a clinical best practice, and research published by Sanders et al. in 2015 confirmed that real ear measures are a necessary part of proper hearing aid fittings. Not optional. Not reserved for complicated cases. Necessary. And yet fewer than 30% of hearing care providers use it routinely.
That gap explains a lot. It explains the patients who say their devices amplify everything at once so they can't follow a conversation in a restaurant. It explains the people who tried hearing aids, gave up, and decided they just "couldn't get used to them." Often the technology wasn't the problem. Nobody confirmed it was working correctly for that specific person.
When REM is done right, it is not a quick check at the end of your appointment. The probe microphone goes in your ear and you listen to real speech samples. Your audiologist watches the measurements live and fine-tunes your programming until it aligns with your prescription across the full range of frequencies that matter for understanding speech. Adjustments happen in the moment based on data, rather than simply on whether you say "that sounds okay."
The outcomes reflect this. Fittings verified with REM are consistently linked to higher satisfaction, better daily use, and clearer hearing in challenging environments like noisy restaurants or crowded family gatherings.
At Glendora Hearing Aids & Audiology, Dr. Kevin Ivory performs Real Ear Measurement as a standard part of every hearing aid fitting. It is not an occasional add-on or something reserved for difficult cases; it is for every patient, every time.
That includes people who already have hearing aids and have never been happy with them. If you bought your devices somewhere else and they've never felt quite right, Dr. Ivory can run REM on your existing pair, check whether they're actually programmed to your prescription, and correct them if they're not. You don't necessarily need new hearing aids. You might just need a fitting that was actually verified.
Whether you're exploring hearing aids for the first time or you've had a pair sitting in a drawer, ask one simple question when you call any provider: Do you perform Real Ear Measurement?
At Glendora Hearing Aids & Audiology, the answer is always yes.
Start with a hearing evaluation to get a clear picture of where your hearing stands, or learn more about our hearing aid fitting process. Call us at (626) 963-7200. Let's get this right.
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Book an appointment with Dr. Kevin Ivory to start hearing better today.
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