Rinne Test

A Rinne test uses a tuning fork to check how well you hear when sound moves through your ear (air conduction) or vibrates your skull (bone conduction). A primary care provider or otolaryngologist may do this test to diagnose conductive hearing loss.

Hearing turns sound waves into vibrations. Normally, the vibrations travel from your eardrum to tiny bones in your middle ear. Next, the vibrations go to tiny hair cells in your inner ear. The hair cells vibrate, sending messages to your auditory nerve and then to your brain.

In conductive hearing loss, something blocks the sound from getting to your inner ear. The sound you hear happens when vibrations go through your skull to your inner ear. The detour disrupts the way messages from your inner ear get to your brain.

How does a Rinne test work?

A Rinne test detects any difference in your hearing when a tuning fork tone moves through air or bone. It involves the following steps:

• You sit in a chair in a quiet room.
• Your provider taps the tuning fork on their knee. The fork makes a sound and vibrates.
• They place the ends of the tuning fork on the bone behind your ear. They’ll ask you to tell them when you stop hearing sound from the tuning fork.
• Without striking the fork a second time, your provider moves the tuning fork so it’s just outside your ear. They’ll ask when you stop hearing the tuning fork.

What type of results do you get?

Your healthcare provider may say you have a positive or negative Rinne result:

• Positive Rinne test: The tuning fork sound is louder when the fork is near your ear than when it’s on the bone behind your ear. It’s easier to hear sound through the air than bone. Your provider may say you have typical hearing.
• Negative Rinne test: The sound is louder when the tuning fork is on the bone behind your ear. Your provider may say you have conductive hearing loss.

Next steps

Your healthcare provider may do a Weber test. This is another hearing test that uses a tuning fork. A Weber test checks for sensorineural hearing loss. Damage to the tiny hairs in your inner ear causes this hearing loss.

Your provider may refer you to an audiologist for more hearing tests. But don’t hesitate to contact your provider if you notice a sudden change in your hearing.