Rinne tuning fork test /rin″ə/ [Heinrich A. Rinne, German otologist, 1819–1868] , a method of distinguishing conductive from sensorineural hearing loss. The base of a vibrating tuning fork is placed against the patient’s mastoid bone. While one ear is tested, the other is masked. When the patient no longer hears the sound, the time in seconds is noted, and the fork is positioned about ½ inch from the external auditory meatus on the same side. The time the sound is heard is noted. Air-conducted sound should be heard twice as long as bone-conducted sound after bone conduction stops. In sensorineural loss the sound is heard relatively longer by air conduction; in conductive hearing loss the sound is heard longer by bone conduction. The test may be performed with tuning forks of 256, 512, and 1024 cycles.
