Probe-tube microphone measures of real ear coupler difference in Chinese adults and children

Probe-tube microphone measures of ear canal sound pressure levels were obtained for 20 Chinese adults and 20 children under 5 years of age. The smallest intrasubject variability between the two measurements for each subject was in the frequency range of 0.75 to 4 kHz. Larger variation was found at the low and high frequency ends. However, at no frequency did the mean standard deviation exceed 2 dB. Real ear to coupler difference (RECD) for both adults and children showed a similar pattern as previously reported in the literature, except at 6 kHz where our data were significantly smaller. Children typically had larger RECDs than those for adults across all frequencies. These data are very useful in fitting hearing aids for Chinese adults and children.