Conductive Hearing Loss - Differentiating Conductive and Sensorineuronal Hearing Loss

Differentiating Conductive and Sensorineuronal Hearing Loss

When a Weber test is carried out, sound localizes to the ear affected by the conductive loss. A Rinne test, in which air conduction is normally greater than bone conduction, is usually negative (abnormal – note unusual terminology here compared with other medical tests), and shows greater bone conduction than air conduction.

Table 1. A table comparing sensorineural hearing loss to conductive

Criteria Sensorineural hearing loss Conductive hearing loss
Anatomical Site Inner ear, cranial nerve VIII, or central processing centers Middle ear (ossicular chain), tympanic membrane, or inner ear
Weber Test Sound localizes to normal ear Sound localizes to affected ear (ear with conductive loss)
Rinne Test Positive Rinne; Air conduction > Bone conduction (both air and bone conduction are decreased equally, but the difference between them is unchanged). Negative Rinne; Bone Conduction > Air Conduction (Bone/Air Gap)

Read more about this topic:  Conductive Hearing Loss

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