Editing Weber test (section)

==Detection of air conductive hearing loss==
A patient with a unilateral [[conductive hearing loss]] would hear the tuning fork loudest in the affected ear.  This is because the ear with the conductive hearing loss is only receiving input from the bone conduction and no air conduction, and the sound is perceived as louder in that ear.<ref name="internalizemedicine.com">{{cite web | url = http://www.internalizemedicine.com/2011/12/deciphering-the-weber-and-rinne-tuning-fork-tests.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609061114/http://www.internalizemedicine.com/2011/12/deciphering-the-weber-and-rinne-tuning-fork-tests.html | archive-date=2014-06-09 | url-status=dead | title = Deciphering the Weber and Rinne Tuning Fork Tests }} </ref> This finding is due to the conduction problem of the '''middle ear''' (incus, malleus, stapes, and external auditory meatus) which masks the ambient noise of the room, while the well-functioning [[inner ear]] (cochlea with its basilar membrane) picks the sound up via the bones of the skull, causing it to be perceived as a louder sound in the affected ear.  Another theory, however, is based on the [[occlusion effect]] described by Tonndorf et al, in 1966.  Lower frequency sounds (as made by the 256&nbsp;Hz fork) that are transferred through the bone to the ear canal escape from the canal.  If an occlusion is present, the sound cannot escape and appears louder on the ear with the [[conductive hearing loss]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mbubaegbu CE |title=Weber's test demystified. Physics renders Weber's test not so mysterious . . |journal=BMJ |volume=325 |issue=7372 |pages=1117 |date=November 2002 |pmid=12424184 |pmc=1124596 |doi=10.1136/bmj.325.7372.1117}}</ref>

Conductive hearing loss can be mimicked by plugging one ear with a finger and performing the Rinne and Weber tests, which will help clarify the above. Humming a constant note and then plugging one ear is a good way to mimic the findings of the Weber test in conductive hearing loss.  The simulation of the Weber test is the basis for the [[Bing test]].