Air Vs. Bone Conductive Hearing Loss
Air conduction uses the apparatus of the ear (pinna, eardrum and ossicles) to amplify and direct the sound whereas bone conduction bypasses some or all of these and allows the sound to be transmitted directly to the inner ear albeit at a reduced volume, or via the bones of the skull to the opposite ear.
| Description | Relative | Positive/negative |
|---|---|---|
| In a normal ear, air conduction (AC) is better than bone conduction (BC) | AC > BC | this is called a positive Rinne |
| In conductive hearing loss, bone conduction is better than air | AC < BC | negative Rinne |
| In sensorineural hearing loss, bone conduction and air conduction are both equally depreciated, maintaining the relative difference of bone and air conductions | AC > BC | positive Rinne |
| In sensorineural hearing loss patients there may be a false negative Rinne | AC < BC | negative Rinne |
Note that the words positive and negative are used in a somewhat confusing fashion here, other than their normal use in medical tests. Positive or negative means that a certain parameter that was evaluated was present or not. In this case, that parameter is if air conduction (AC) is better than bone conduction (BC). Thus, a "positive" result indicates the healthy state, in contrast to many other medical tests. Therefore, if presenting your findings to a physician, to avoid confusing yourself, it may be wise to avoid using the term 'positive' or 'negative', and simply state if the test was normal or abnormal e.g. 'Rinnes test was abnormal in the right ear, with bone conduction greater than air conduction'.
Read more about this topic: Rinne Test
Famous quotes containing the words air, bone, hearing and/or loss:
“A slight daily unconscious luxury is hardly ever wanting to the dwellers in civilisation; like the gentle air of a genial climate, it is a perpetual minute enjoyment.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Take adultery or theft.
Merely sins.
It is evil who dines on the soul,
stretching out its long bone tongue.
It is evil who tweezers my heart,
picking out its atomic worms.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“When, at rare intervals, some thought visits one, as perchance he is walking on a railroad, then, indeed, the cars go by without his hearing them. But soon, by some inexorable law, our life goes by and the cars return.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I have always observed, when there is as much sour as sweet in a compliment, that an Englishman is eternally at a loss within himself, whether to take it, or let it alone: a Frenchman never is.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)