The Philips Ear Thermometer needs a short time to stabilize right after a measurement.
The Philips ear thermometer is equipped with a thermal sensor, located in the tip of the device. After approx. 6 seconds the thermal sensor will be stabilized enough to ensure the accuracy of the next measurement.
Within these 6 seconds a measurement cannot be taken. The backlight of the device will switch off as soon as the thermometer is ready to do a new measurement. If you try to measure multiple times, within 6 seconds, the thermometer will give audible feedback in the form of three short sequential beeps, indicating that no measurement was done. In this case you should wait a few moments and try again.