IEC 60118-15:2012 specifies a test signal designed to represent normal speech, the International Speech Test Signal (ISTS), together with the procedures and the requirements for measuring the characteristics of signal processing in air-conduction hearing aids. The measurements are used to derive the estimated insertion gain (EIG). For the purposes of characterizing a hearing aid for production, supply and delivery, the procedures and requirements to derive the coupler gain on a 2 cm3 coupler as defined in IEC 60318-5 are also specified. The purpose of this standard is to ensure that the same measurements made on a hearing aid following the procedures described, and using equipment complying with these requirements, give substantially the same results. Measurement methods that take into account the acoustic coupling of a hearing aid to the individual ear and the acoustic influence of the individual anatomical variations of an end-user on the acoustical performance of the hearing aid, known as real-ear measurements, are outside the scope of this particular standard.
