Prescription of hearing aids: a rationale

A rationale is presented for a hearing aid prescription. Once the choice of ear(s) to be fitted is determined and whether air or bone conduction fitting is appropriate, output and gain-frequency response characteristics are prescribed on the basis of audiometric test data. The specific prescription data for ouptut are based on uncomfortable loudness levels, and gain-frequency response data are based on a formula that was determined by imposing typical speech parameters over a given hearing loss. A hearing aid prescription is not only intended to predict amplification needs but, just as important, it also provides a method for testing the results of those predictions.