Hearing-aid fitting protocol

A five appointment programme protocol for hearing-aid selection, fitting and client guidance is described. The full protocol requires a maximum work load average of 3 h per client, and is appropriate for the vast majority of psychologically and physically intact first time aid users. Drawn up for use mainly with an elderly population, the protocol is equally appropriate with younger adult clients contacts over a relatively short time to allow repetition and reinforcement and develop motivation. Each appointment has been designed to contain a proportion of instruction, a proportion of assessment and evaluation, and a proportion of advice and guidance. Clients proceed in accordance with individual capacity, but do not proceed beyond any point until performance is verified. A number of recently developed methods are incorporated into the protocol. These include methods of aid selection, ear impression taking, aided threshold testing and validity checks and speech test selection.