Side-by-side comparison of hearing device output based on physical coupling to device under simulation

An apparatus for simulating a hearing experience of one or more hearing devices, the apparatus comprising:

• a first ear simulator coupler comprising a first aperture on an outer surface of a housing of the apparatus, wherein the first ear simulator coupler is configured to receive a first hearing device;
• an acoustic microphone provided within the interior of the housing below the first aperture and configured to capture first audio input data associated with the first ear simulator coupler;
• a second ear simulator coupler comprising a second aperture on the outer surface of the housing, wherein the second ear simulator coupler includes a receive coil configured to obtain a second audio input data corresponding to a transmitted signal from a contact hearing device inserted within the second ear simulator coupler;
• and
• an audio output port connected by a switch to a selected one of:
• a first audio processing path corresponding to a simulated hearing experience of the first hearing device;
• or
• a second audio processing path corresponding to a simulated hearing experience of the contact hearing device.