Strange.Īir conduction was also mentioned in the Weber and Rinne test. Reading further apparently people only hear the 3rd sound if the 2 original sounds are transmitted through electromagnetic headphones and not through air conduction headphones. It also says that people rarely hear sounds below 20hz so how do they hear the 3rd (10hz) sound. The fact that you put a 530hz in 1 ear and a 520hz in the other ear and hear both as well as a 3rd note (530 - 520) 10hz - Alpha brain wave, is amazing. Just read through wikipedia on binaural beats. This can be revealed by the investigator (with normal hearing) placing the fork close to her own ear after the patient indicates that the sound has subsided, noting that the sound from the fork is still loud and clear to a normal ear. This pattern is similar to what is found in people with normal hearing, but patients with sensorineural hearing loss will indicate that the sound has stopped much earlier. In sensorineural hearing loss the ability to sense the tuning fork by both bone and air conduction is equally diminished, implying they will hear the tuning fork by air conduction after they can no longer hear it through bone conduction. This indicates there is something inhibiting the passage of sound waves from the ear canal, through the middle ear apparatus and into the cochlea (i.e., there is a conductive hearing loss). If they are not able to hear the tuning fork after the mastoid test, it means that their bone conduction is greater than their air conduction. Once they signal they can't hear it, quickly position the still vibrating tuning fork 1–2 cm from the auditory canal, and again ask the patient to tell you if they are able to hear the tuning fork.ResultsEditNormal Hearing: Air conduction should be greater than bone conduction and so the patient should be able to hear the tuning fork next to the pinna (outer ear) after they can no longer hear it when held against the mastoid.

I dont want to ruin the placebo effect here but i its called The Rinne test is performed by placing a high frequency (512 Hz) vibrating tuning forkagainst the patient's mastoid bone and asking the patient to tell you when the sound is no longer heard.

Auditory tube sound waves