If you were getting hearing aids and you had a choice between a hearing aid fitting method based on 40 years of scientific research and over 10,000 experimental subjects or a method based on guesswork, which would you choose? This was part of the message delivered to about 40 attendees at last week’s Vanderbilt University Hearing Aid Hands-On Workshop.
We covered some of the most recent research on the hearing aid fitting process, including some that is so new it hasn’t yet been published. There was a tour near the end of the last day that featured a large anechoic chamber which is in high demand for auditory research. It is built inside a concrete box which isolates it from vibration. When you step inside you can see sound absorbing wedges (like those on the walls) through the wire mesh under your feet. The city of Nashville is the icing on the cake – great food and live music in nearly every cafe and bar. I went to a car show at the Frist Museum that displayed a selection of concept cars (mostly Italian, a couple of American) from the 50’s to the 70’s. It was a great experience and I recommend it to any audiologist who fits hearing aids.
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