Comparison of occlusion effect in normal hearing subjects via real ear measurement and audiometric Bing test

One of the most common complaints, particularly among patients with normal or near normal low-frequency hearing, is that their voice sounds "hollow". This is associated with "Occlusion effect". The aim of this study was to comparison of occlusion effect in normal hearing subjects via Real Ear Measurement and Audiometric Bing test. Twenty volunteers with normal hearing (10 male, 10 female), with ages ranging from 18 - 24 years were enrolled in this study. First, audiometric Bing test was performed in frequencies of 250, 500, 750 and 1000 Hz. Then in real ear measurement, subjects were instructed to vocalize /â/ and /i/ for 5 seconds. Probe microphone was recorded the sound pressure in the ear canals. The degrees of occlusion effect unit were obtained for further analysis. The means of occlusion effect were present in all subjects. There was no correlation between the results of audiometric Bing test and real-ear measurement. No significant difference was obtained between genders and monaural or binaural occlusion in real-ear measurement. But in audiometric Bing test, the difference between monaural or binaural occlusion was significant(p<0.05). The peak of occlusion effect varies significantly among hearing aid users, so the hearing aid must be tuned. Probe- microphone measures will assist in determination how much gain is enough, and where frequency- specific adjustments are needed.