Real ear to 6-cm3 coupler differences in young children.

Real-ear sound pressure levels under supra-aural earphones were measured for a group of young children (9 months to 7 years) and adults. Pure-tone signals were presented at nine test frequencies from 250 to 6000 Hz, and real ear to 6-cm3 coupler differences were computed for each frequency. Results suggest that, by 2 years of age, average real ear to 6-cm3 coupler differences are similar for adults and children. The intersubject variability for all groups supports the need for real-ear threshold measures on an individual basis in cases where the ability to amplify the speech spectrum to a level that is audible across the frequency range is in question.