title: Probe-tube microphone measures in hearing-impaired children and adults.
abstract: This study was designed to investigate the reliability of real-ear measurements of sound pressure level (SPL) and to compare these values with two coupler measures of SPL. A commercially available probe tube microphone system was used to measure real ear SPL in both children and adults. Test-retest reliability decreased as a function of frequency for both groups and, in general, was slightly poorer for the children. For both groups, coupler to real ear differences were larger for the 2 cm3 coupler than for the reduced volume coupler; however, no significant differences were observed between groups. In addition, a measure of ear canal volume was not found to be a good predictor of coupler to real ear discrepancies.
authors.affiliation: Boys Town National Institute for Communication Disorders in Children, Omaha, Nebraska.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Barlow
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Auslander
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rines
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Stelmachowicz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008875:Middle Aged; D010897:Pitch Discrimination