Rinne attempt

The Rinne test is an ear, nose and throat test to test the hearing ; in particular, the Rinne test is used to differentiate between a sound sensation disorder and a sound conduction disorder in one ear. Together with the Weber experiment, it is a standard test for examining hearing impairment.

The test is named after Heinrich Adolf Rinne (1819–1868), who described it in 1855.

In the Rinne test, a tuning fork is made to vibrate and the patient is first placed with the tuning fork foot on the bone process behind the auricle ("mastoid", Latin processus mastoideus ). As soon as the patient signals that he can no longer hear the tuning fork, it is held directly in front of the auricle. If the patient can still hear the tuning fork, the Rinne test is positive; if he does not hear it, the test is negative.

The Rinne test makes use of the physiological properties of the ear: With normal hearing, sound can be perceived louder via air conduction than via bone conduction because of the amplifier properties of the ossicles and eardrum . A tuning fork that fades away is therefore heard longer via air conduction than via bone conduction, so it can still be heard in the ear canal after it was no longer heard on the mastoid process.

If the Rinne test turns out negative, this is an indication of conductive hearing loss, i.e. a disorder in the outer or middle ear area. The Rinne test is positive in healthy people and those with sensorineural hearing loss. There is damage to the inner ear.

If the patient credibly states that they do not hear any tuning fork sound at all, there must be pronounced sensorineural hearing loss in both ears.

For further tuning fork tests see also: Bing test , Gellé test , Weber test .

Original description

• A. Rinne: Contributions to the physiology of the human ear. In: Quarterly for practical medicine. Prague 1855.

Web links

• Rinne attempt as a Quicktime film (English, Webster University )

Sources and individual references

1. ↑ H. Feldmann: The historical development of hearing test methods. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart 1960.
2. ↑ Peter Berlit: Clinical Neurology . Springer Science & Business Media, November 25, 2005, ISBN 978-3-540-01982-4 , p. 396.

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !