Ear Investigations

Question 1

What is the difference between conductive and sensorineural hearing loss?

Answer 1

Conductive hearing loss occurs when sound conduction is impeded through the external ear, the middle ear, or both.
Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when there is a problem within the cochlea or the neural pathway to the auditory cortex.

Question 2

Interpret the Rinne’s and Weber’s test

Answer 2

Normal
Rinne’s Air louder than Bone
Weber’s Sound heard in midline

Conductive Hearing Loss
Rinne’s Bone louder than Air
Weber’s Sound heard in bad ear

Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Rinne’s Air louder than Bone
Weber’s Sound heard in good ear

Question 3

What is audiometry?

What are the thresholds for hearing loss?

Answer 3

A pure tone test measures the quietest sound you can hear at different pitches. It involves using an audiometer, which is a machine that plays sounds via headphones. A variety of sounds, such as tones and speech will be played at different intervals into one ear at a time, to determine your range of hearing.
0-20 Normal 
20-40 Mild Hearing Loss
40-70 Moderate Hearing Loss 
70-90 Severe Hearing Loss
90-120 Profound Hearing Loss 

Another hearing test allows the audiologist to assess your ability to distinguish speech from background noise. A sound sample will be played for you and you’ll be asked to repeat the words you hear. Word recognition can be helpful in diagnosing hearing loss.

Question 4

What is masking?

Answer 4

Masking in audiology is the act of playing white noise into the non-test ear to prevent it from hearing the tones that crossover from the test ear. It helps to obtain the true threshold of the test ear, and ensures that the non-test ear is not helping out.

Question 5

Otoscope?

Answer 5

Allows visual of TM membranes

Ppt in GP Notability