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:
“Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that’s westward bound to plow the rolling sea,
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.”
—Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933)
“My Friend is not of some other race or family of men, but flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. He is my real brother.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“That myth—that image of the madonna-mother—has disabled us from knowing that, just as men are more than fathers, women are more than mothers. It has kept us from hearing their voices when they try to tell us their aspirations . . . kept us from believing that they share with men the desire for achievement, mastery, competence—the desire to do something for themselves.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)
“No need to be sentimental to mourn the loss of Paradise.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)