SynthesisTrends in hearing
Does Probe-Tube Verification of Real-Ear Hearing Aid Amplification Characteristics Improve Outcomes in Adults? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Trends in hearing. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05621798 (Quantifying the Benefits and Cost-effectiveness of Real-Ear Measurements), which is not on this map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Quantifying the Benefits and Cost-effectiveness of Real-Ear Measurements (REM) for Hearing Aid Fitting
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Quantifying the Effects of Motivation on Listening Effort: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Trends in hearingPooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Initial High-Frequency Amplification Accuracy Predicts Long-Term Hearing Aid Fitting Outcomes: A Real Ear Measurement-Based Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Outcomes of real-ear measurement-based fitting in unilateral hearing aid users: Influence of contralateral hearing.PloS one · 2026Article
- Comparison of Performance with Hearing Aid programmed to First-Fit and Optimized Fit.The journal of international advanced otology · 2025Article
- Gain Analysis of Self-Fitting Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids: A Comparative and Longitudinal Analysis.Audiology research · 2025Article
- Hearing aid verification: Practices and perceptions of South African audiologists.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir Kommunikasieafwykings · 2024Article
- Functional outcomes for speech-in-noise intelligibility of NAL-NL2 and DSL v.5 prescriptive fitting rules in hearing aid users.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2024Article
- Article
- Should Tinnitus Patients with Subclinical Hearing Impairment Be Offered Hearing Aids? A Comparison of Tinnitus Mitigation Following 3 Months Hearing Aid Use in Individuals with and without Clinical Hearing Impairment.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Impact of hearing aid technology level at first-fit on self-reported outcomes in patients with presbycusis: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in aging · 2023Article
- A review of auditory processing and cognitive change during normal ageing, and the implications for setting hearing aids for older adults.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Review
- Applying the Hearing Aid Fitting Standard to Selection for Adults.Seminars in hearing · 2022Review
- The Effect of Real Ear Target Deviations on SSQ and Speech Intelligibility in a Clinical Population.Trends in hearingArticle
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This systematic review, the first on this topic, aimed to investigate if probe-tube verification of real-ear hearing aid amplification characteristics improves outcomes in adults. The review was preregistered in the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews and performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. After assessing more than 1,420 records from seven databases, six experimental studies (published between 2012 and 2019) met the inclusion criteria; five were included in the meta-analyses. The primary outcome of interest (hearing-specific, health-related quality of life) was not reported in any study. There were moderate and statistically significant positive effects of probe-tube real-ear measurement (REM), compared with the manufacturer's initial fit, on speech intelligibility in quiet settings (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.59) and user's final preference (proportion difference: 52.2%). There were small but statistically significant positive effects of REM on self-reported listening abilities (SMD: 0.22) and speech intelligibility in noise (SMD: 0.15). The quality of evidence for these outcomes ranged from high to very low. The findings show that REMs improve outcomes statistically, but this is based on a small number of studies and a limited number of participants. It is currently unclear if the benefits are of material importance because minimum clinically important differences have not been established for most of the outcomes. Ultimately, there needs to be a cost-effectiveness analysis to show that statistically significant benefits, which exceed the minimum clinically important difference, are worth the cost involved.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.