Clinical Examination: Understanding Conductive and Sensorineural Hearing Loss

🔑 Differentiating between conductive and sensorineural hearing loss is essential in the clinical examination of hearing loss.

👂 Sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by inner-ear disease or damage to the cochlear nerve, resulting in impaired perception of sound waves via air and bone conduction.

👉 Conductive hearing loss is caused by diseases of the middle ear or obstructions in the outer auditory canal, leading to impaired air conduction but unaffected bone conduction.

👂 Impaired sound conduction makes the inner ear more sensitive towards bone conduction stimuli.

🔀 The Rinne Test helps differentiate between sensorineural and conductive hearing loss.

⚡️ Conductive hearing loss impairs air conduction, while sensorineural hearing loss does not.

🔑 The Weber and Rinne tests are used to assess hearing loss.

🔑 A positive Rinne test indicates that air conduction is intact.

🔑 The Weber test compares bone conduction in both ears to detect the origin of hearing loss.

👂 Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss causes sound to be louder on the unaffected side.

👉 Unilateral conductive hearing loss causes sound to be louder on the affected side.

🔄 Differentiating between sensorineural and conductive hearing loss requires interpretation of results from both the Rinne and Weber Test.

⭐ A bilaterally positive Rinne Test indicates conductive hearing loss.

👂 Weber test lateralized to the right suggests right-sided conductive hearing loss or left-sided sensorineural hearing loss.

✅ A positive Rinne Test on both sides confirms normal air conduction.

👂 The Weber test can detect conductive or sensorineural hearing loss.

🔊 A positive Rinne test indicates no significant conductive hearing loss.

👂📉 A negative Rinne test suggests conductive hearing loss.

👂👉 A normal Weber test points to symmetrical conductive hearing loss.

👂👉📉 Both the Rinne and Weber tests are useful for identifying different types of hearing loss.

🔎 The Weber and Rinne tests are used to evaluate combined conductive and sensory neural hearing loss.

👂 The Weber test involves placing a vibrating tuning fork on the forehead to determine if hearing loss is unilateral or bilateral.

🔊 The Rinne test compares air conduction and bone conduction to differentiate between conductive and sensory neural hearing loss.