• We report a new method of hearing aid evaluation with the underlying philosophy that evaluation of hearing aid performance is not an end in itself, but an integral part of the total rehabilitation of the hearing-impaired patient. This new method uses synthetic sentences and speech competition in varying "message-to-competition ratios (MCRs)" to evaluate patient performance with hearing aids. We report six illustrative cases and a follow-up survey of patient satisfaction with recommended hearing aids to relate our experience with this technique.