In-the-ear hearing aids. A comparative investigation of the use of custom-made versus modular type aids

The present investigation was performed in order to evaluate and describe the benefit of a CITE-HA and compare its use with that of a modular type ITE-HA. Thirty-five patients at a median age of 70 (range 27-84) years, were fitted with CITE-HAs. As a reference group, we selected 37 patients at a median age of 74 (range 27-85) years, fitted with various types of modular in-the-ear-HAs. Based on an extensive questionnaire and an objective evaluation using insertion gain measurements and discrimination score in background noise, it was demonstrated that hearing disabled patients--even when elderly--benefit from in-the-ear-HAs; that the discrimination score measured with CITE-HAs was lower than that with the modular in-the-ear-HA; and that custom-made in-the-ear-HAs in general offer no major advantages when compared with the modular in-the-ear-HA types. In addition it was shown that the hearing aid amplification used by the majority of patients was considerably less than the amplification described by the POGO formula.