MODIFIED SOFT EAR INSERT

Abstract

Twenty-one selected patients were tested at the Audiology and Speech Correction Center, Walter Reed Army Hospital, with a modified soft plastic ear insert which is fitted into the hearing-aid receiver, and the findings were compared with the results of tests done with a standard soft insert.¹Although there appeared to be no significant difference in speech reception and speech discrimination while the patient was using one or the other insert, the modified insert made manifest the advantages of added comfort to the patient, less fabrication time, and lower cost. Because of these positive results, the improved insert, which is made with an open channel, now replaces its predecessor, the standard soft insert, and is issued at Walter Reed Army Hospital to each patient requiring a hearing aid. Figures 1, 2, and 3 show the three stages of ear inserts, which have been used successively at Walter Reed Army Hospital