Stenger test
The Stenger test is an audiometric method of ear, nose and throat medicine , with which the simulation of a one-sided deafness or hearing impairment can be detected. The test is based on the phenomenon that a sound offered on both sides, but with a different volume, is only perceived on the side of the louder sound.
The test was described by Paul Stenger in 1900:
“If you hold a tuning fork of the same pitch in front of each ear, they will only be heard on both sides with the same touch, the same distance and normal hearing on both sides. However, a minimal change on the one hand is sufficient, which can either be a slight shift in the distance or a stronger attack, in order to immediately deflect in favor of one side. ... In the case of a man with doubtful left-sided deafness, if the ears are not closed, first approach one ... tuning fork from the right to the right ear until the examined person states that he can hear the tuning fork. ... If you hold a tuning fork with the same pitch close to the allegedly deaf left ear ... and if you now approach a tuning fork that has been struck at the same time from the right, it will be heard if the left ear is really deaf. If the left ear is not deaf but still has hearing ability, the tuning fork approached to the right will not be heard on the right until the tuning fork held in front of the left ear, i.e. H. the hearing of the left ear is switched off. "
The test was rarely described with such clarity afterwards.
Investigation process
The test is performed today using a tone audiometer . A tone 10 dB above the hearing threshold is offered to the “good” ear via headphones . The same tone is now offered with increasing intensity on the deaf ear in question. If this ear is actually deaf, the person examined will indicate that they can continue to hear the sound on their good ear. However, if the deafness is simulated, from a certain volume of the sound on the allegedly deaf ear, the person being examined indicates that he can no longer hear the sound on the good ear because he now hears the sound on the allegedly poorer ear louder. With repeated measurements, the actual hearing threshold of the supposedly deaf ear can be approximated.
The interpretation of the Stenger test is not easy, so the test should only be carried out by experienced examiners.
swell
- ↑ Paul Stenger: An attempt to objectively determine one-sided deafness, respectively. Deafness by means of tuning forks . In: Archives for Ear Medicine . tape 50 , 1900, ZDB -ID 218894-6 , p. 197-198 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01971057 .