Real Ear Measurement (R.E.M.)

REMs take time to perform because they use a recorded speech or speech-like stimulus that must be played and averaged in real time. Most autoREM systems only make adjustments to the output of the devices to match targets once, so if their target correction is inaccurate for whatever reason you still don’t hit target. It can be repeated manually by the clinician in some cases, but for some manufacturers the correction being made is so inadequate (varies according to device coupling) its faster and more accurate to manually match to target.

Otoacoustic Emissions were discovered in the 1980’s.

Mate, it doesn’t cost you anything to be kind to others.

@Hearing_Potential said:

, it doesn’t cost you anything to be kind to others.

That person you are making accusations at is probably one of if not the nicest person on this forum. Super helpful to all for many years mate.

In North America the mate doesn’t always read that way actually. I suspect that Australians are a bit less prone to snide condescension than people can be over here.

But to be honest, I’m not totally convinced I was being that rude, and certainly not more than he was. The antivax community is made up of people who have no real interest in doing the hard work to learn the foundational science to understand why the huge majority of the medical world supports vaccination. They are interested in a particular type of polemic, but they are not actually curious about investigating or changing their ideas. The way that they take a bit of truth and mix it with “what sounds right to them" did sound similar to what I was reading above and so I was assessing whether I should actually engage at all. But most antivaxxers I know aren’t insulted by being called antivaxxers anymore than I’d be insulted by someone calling me a scientist, although those circles and some others can say that derisively in turn. It is indeed what I am and central to what I believe.

Apart from general certification through ASHA and state licensure, I have not sought specialty accreditation in CI. However, I do see bimodal patients in tandem with our CI audiologists.

@PaulC said:

I have not sought specialty accreditation in CI.

Thanks, I thought we might have a pro with CI certifications and experience on the forum.

@Raudrive said:

Maybe so. I am afraid each company would be touting how they are better than the other company and we on the forum would not get the truth.

I expect from tgrm rather gatgering our opinions like about unavailability of the results if Remote Check O
or so.

EDIT:

And I’m impatient waiting for a firmware update activating at least Bluetooth LE Audio feature.

Just to play devils’ advocate, you should probably read this study: Active pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine groups: Their group identities and attitudes toward science - PMC2 . A survey of 5 million people by researchers from Carnegie Mellon & Pittsburg universities found the least vaccine hesitant group to be those with Master’s degrees, but the most hesitant group were those with PhDs!

The reality is that many scientific fields are so disconnected from reality that papers in these fields have reproducibility rates well below chance, i.e. what is being shown in these experiments is not occurring in nature. A recent replicability challenge in Brazil1 found 15 - 45% replicability of 85 studies in the biological sciences, including studies using RT-PCR. Science has been in a crisis for well over 30 years now and more than half of scientists recognise this.2

In short, there are good reasons why people shouldn’t just “trust the science” and those in scientific fields have a better understanding of this than most people in the population. In terms of engineering, modern society has never been more advanced but in terms of science we are still teaching hypotheses that were falsified as long ago as the 19th century as dogma in schools from primary through to University, including medical schools.

@Hearing_Potential said:

A survey of 5 million people by researchers from Carnegie Mellon & Pittsburg universities found the least vaccine hesitant group to be those with Master’s degrees, but the most hesitant group were those with PhDs!

I’m going to assume that you made an honest error linking the original un-corrected pre-print rather than the corrected and finally published paper, and aren’t aware that the authors themselves disagree with that particular interpretation of their results and issued media statements clarifying that, given that their open facebook survey results didn’t actually match demographic data, survey takers were not answering that question in good faith.

Speaking of replicability, let’s remember, too, that there is a lot of evidence that vaccine uptake is associated quite clearly with educational levels. Just off a quick search:

Social determinants of health and vaccine uptake during the first wave of the...1

Significant differences in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine uptake during the first wave related to age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity. Age was a significant determinant of vaccine uptake, with coverage increasing with age. Higher education levels were ...

COVID-19 vaccine perceptions and uptake in a national prospective cohort of...

In a multi-center prospective cohort of essential workers, we assessed knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) by vaccine intention, prior SARS-CoV-2 positivity, and occupation, and their impact on vaccine uptake over time. Initiated in July 2020,...

Predictors of vaccine uptake during a pandemic: The interplay of lifetime...1

The experience of discrimination can have significant health implications, especially during a global pandemic. This study examines how lifetime discrimination, educational attainment (measured in years of education), and family support individually...

Reconsidering inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Germany: a...

Combining the frameworks of fundamental causes theory and diffusion of innovation, scholars had anticipated a delayed COVID-19 vaccination uptake for people in lower socioeconomic position depending on the socioeconomic context. We qualify these...

Factors and reasons associated with low COVID-19 vaccine uptake among highly...2

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a public health threat. Our findings suggest that low education levels are a major contributor to vaccine hesitancy and ultimately vaccination levels. Since education levels are not easily modifiable, our results suggest...

The original study you cite did not find an educational difference between their specific subset of ‘pro- or antivaxxers who actively discuss vaccines on social media’. I did enjoy this bit in the conclusion, which is in line with what I’ve experienced: “A very important result is that while positive attitudes toward science were most strongly associated with [the pro-vaccine] group’s Importance, the anti-vaccine group exhibited the strongest association between pro-science and Superiority. This may indicate that pro-vaccine individuals are pro-scientific because they feel that their pro-scientific group is important to them, or they feel that being pro-vaccine is important because it fits their pro-scientific attitudes. In case of the anti-vaccine group, it seems that they exhibit pro-scientific attitudes because they believe that being anti-vaccine is actually scientifically correct—the anti-vaccine group is, in their eyes, superior in understanding science.”

Science is absolutely experiencing a replicability crisis, particularly in fields like psychology but yes in biology too. Not so much in human clinical trials though, which have their own specific set of safeguards.

Let’s also not pretend that an audiology degree confers the skills required to assess the vaccine literature.

That all said, at no point did I indicate that antivaxxers were unintelligent nor did I particularly say that they were uneducated. It turns out that research seems to show that they do tend to be less educated–but this is group data. Although, that does give an ironic twist to the bit I quoted from the identities paper.

@Hearing_Potential said:

In short, there are good reasons why people shouldn’t just “trust the science” and those in scientific fields have a better understanding of this than most people in the population.

Perhaps you meant that no self-respecting scientist would blindly trust anything w/o verifying, yet that science as methodology to collect observations with the goal to explain and predict things is the best we got? … and therefore saying something like “good scientists don’t “just “trust the science”“ - is paradoxical - and absurd?

Thanks for your post. I’m very grateful.

I’m 79. Just retired. Worn ha for over 20 years. I couldn’t hear with my second pair of Phonak. They were replaced when 2 years old. I work(ed) on construction sites and was almost hit 3 times from behind with diesel equipment I couldn’t hear.

I have Paradise P90R’s.

I still can’t hear.

I believe there are fatal flaws in the way we are tested and hearing aids are set up.

I’m an engineer. Mechanical. I lost my hearing working in 110 dB at 3M Canadas London power plant

@DaveL said:

I lost my hearing working in 110 dB at 3M Canadas London power plant

High frequency, constant noise is very bad for hearing. Even hearing protection doesn’t help much over the long run. And of course, our hearing gets worse with age. Another gift of longevity.

Based on your audiogram, you should be wearing P or UP receivers with c-shells.

I think a pair of Starkey Omegas or Phonak Sphere i90s would help your understanding of speech a lot. When you say you can’t hear–I take that to mean you can hear, but you can’t understand what’s being said.

If you can trial a pair of either HA, then you’ll have to use the P or UP receivers with power domes. That won’t provide the best clarity, but it will tell you if either of those hearing aids will help you.

If you do a trial, ask the fitter to set them up with no Autosense in the rotation and only two custom programs: Calm Situation and the Spheric Speech (Starkey uses different names for those.) If the HA you’re trying improves your understanding of speech with these simple settings, then you’ve found your best HA, and improvements can be made from there.

I don’t know if trail runs with HAs are possible in Canada, but if you can do it.

Hearing is important.

@Elderly

Thanks.

I have great respect for Pros who give us such great advice. Their passion shows.

I have P2 receivers. Phonak Moulded inserts I have Phonak P70s that sound better as backups.

They were set up some years ago by the dispensing Audi who provided the dispensing Audi for my P90Rs. Long story (a rant)

My hearing instrument specialist has been incredible. I was lost and felt hopeless. He took me under his care.

I have a workman’s compensation claim. I may be able to replace them this coming September.

My hearing has become much worse. I’ve been a heart patient for 3 years. My cardiologist has me on many prescriptions. I think one affected my hearing.

Neville here has helped me so much. He and other members were patient enough to convince me to get moulded inserts. I had refused for years.

Summary. I don’t understand conversations. I’m an old engineer. 79. Cranky Tired. I’ve worked hard to get to this point. But today I must have told my wife I couldn’t hear more than ten times.

Now I’ve just had an MRI. they pulled my driving license after that.

Every day is a good day