RINNE TEST
(1855)

PURPOSE:  determination of a conductive hearing loss

• strike tuning fork and place on mastoid process

• when person can no longer hear the sound (bone conduction threshold), place the tuning fork near the ear canal

• ask when the person can no longer hear the sound (air conduction threshold)

• due to the amplification provided by the middle ear, in a normal person air threshold <= bone threshold

  • this is usually stated as air conduction is better than bone conduction (AC > BC)

  • in a person with a conductive hearing loss, bone conduction is greater than air conduction (BC > AC; bone threshold is less than air threshold)

  • in a patient with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, there may be a false negative Rinne due to the response of the normal ear i.e., AC>BC in the affected ear, but both of these thresholds are elevated relative to BC  in the normal ear, so the patient reports that bone conduction is louder