Can anyone explain this hearing test results?!

NaidaUP

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My niece has always had conductive hearing loss but her latest results are

BC 40db roughly across the board
AC 80db roughly across the board

Does this tell me she has inner ear deafness now?

Which ones (AC or BC) tells me how much inner ear deafness she has, if it does?

Her loss never really troubled her until the last 3 months, we think we know why now.
 
My niece has always had conductive hearing loss but her latest results are

BC 40db roughly across the board
AC 80db roughly across the board

Does this tell me she has inner ear deafness now?

Which ones (AC or BC) tells me how much inner ear deafness she has, if it does?

Her loss never really troubled her until the last 3 months, we think we know why now.
Audiologist is the one you should ask... He/she should give you the results....
I'm not familiar with it but I found this:

(http://www.entcolumbia.org/hearloss.html)
Air conduction tests, which stimulate the ear using air, test the hearing ability of the external auditory canal, the middle ear, and the integrity of the inner ear, eighth cranial nerve, and central auditory pathways.

Bone conduction tests use vibrating tuning forks placed in contact with the head. By bypassing the external auditory canal and middle ear, bone conduction tests can help distinguish problems in the inner ear, eighth cranial nerve, and central auditory pathways.

The Weber and Rinne tuning fork tests can distinguish between conductive and sensorineural hearing losses.

The Weber test may be performed using a 256 or 512 Hz fork. During this test, the stem of a vibrating tuning fork is placed on the head in the midline. If the tone is perceived in the affected ear, this indicates a unilateral conductive hearing loss. In the case of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, the tone is heard in the unaffected ear instead.

In the Rinne test, air and bone conduction tests are compared. In normal hearing tones are louder by air conduction than by bone conduction. In conductive hearing loss, however, the bone-conduction stimulus is perceived as louder. In sensorineural hearing loss both air and bone conduction sounds are diminished, but the air conduction sound is perceived as louder. The Rinne test is most sensitive in detecting mild conductive hearing losses if a 256 Hz fork is used.



Rinne test - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rinne test is a hearing test. It compares perception of sounds transmitted by air conduction to those transmitted by bone conduction through the mastoid. Thus, one can quickly screen for the presence of conductive hearing loss.
A Rinne test should always be accompanied by a Weber test to also detect sensorineural hearing loss and thus confirm the nature of hearing loss.
The Rinne test was named after German otologist Heinrich Adolf Rinne (1819-1868);[2][3] the Weber test was named after Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795 – 1878).

Procedure

The Rinne test is performed by placing a low frequency (512 Hz) vibrating tuning fork against the patient's mastoid bone and asking the patient to tell you when the sound is no longer heard. Once they signal they can't hear it, quickly position the still vibrating tuning fork 1-2 cm from the auditory canal, and again ask the patient to tell you if they are able to hear the tuning fork.

Results
Normal Hearing:
Air conduction (AC) should be greater than bone conduction and so the patient should be able to hear the tuning fork next to the pinna after they can no longer hear it when held against the mastoid.
Abnormal Hearing:
If they are not able to hear the tuning fork after mastoid test, it means that their bone conduction is greater than their air conduction. This indicates there is something inhibiting the passage of sound waves from the ear canal, through the middle ear apparatus and into the cochlea (i.e., there is a conductive hearing loss).
In sensorineural hearing loss the ability to sense the tuning fork by both bone and air conduction is equally diminished. Sensorineurally hearing loss patients usually can hear better on the mastoid process than air process, but indicate the sound has stopped much earlier than conductive loss patients.

Note
The Rinne test is not reliable in distinguishing sensorineural and conductive loss, particularly in mild sensorineural loss. Formal audiometry testing would be required if any abnormal result is presented.
[edit]Air vs. Bone Conductive Hearing Loss

Air conduction uses the apparatus of the ear (pinna, eardrum and ossicles) to amplify and direct the sound whereas bone conduction bypasses some or all of these and allows the sound to be transmitted directly to the inner ear albeit at a reduced volume, or via the bones of the skull to the opposite ear.
Description Relative Positive/negative
In a normal ear, air conduction (AC) is better than bone conduction (BC) AC > BC this is called a positive Rinne
In conductive hearing loss, bone conduction is better than air AC < BC negative Rinne
In sensorineural hearing loss, bone conduction and air conduction are both equally depreciated, maintaining the relative difference of bone and air conductions AC > BC positive Rinne
In sensorineural hearing loss patients there may be a false negative Rinne AC < BC negative Rinne
Note that the words positive and negative are used in a somewhat confusing fashion here, other than their normal use in medical tests. Positive or negative means that a certain parameter that was evaluated was present or not. In this case, that parameter is if air conduction (AC) is better than bone conduction (BC). Thus, a "positive" result indicates the healthy state, in contrast to many other medical tests. Therefore, if presenting your findings to a physician, to avoid confusing yourself, it may be wise to avoid using the term 'positive' or 'negative', and simply state if the test was normal or abnormal e.g. 'Rinnes test was abnormal in the right ear, with bone conduction greater than air conduction'.
[edit]Hazards

This test and its complement, the Weber test, are quick screening tests and are no replacement for formal audiometry. Recently, its value as a screening test has been questioned.[4]
[edit]Effect on Opposite Ear

The effect on the opposite ear, relative to the tuning fork, is reverse to the ear being tested. Here, conduction through the skull to the opposite side is more effective than conduction through room air around the head. Thus, if the normal ear is not masked[clarification needed], bone conduction could be reported as louder by the patient, even if both ears are normal[clarification needed].

More:
AC-BC gap
Audiology A normal finding in pure tone audiometry, in which the threshold for hearing sounds conducted through the air–air conduction, AC is lower than the threshold for sounds conducted through the bones of the skull–bone conduction, BC; the relationship changes dramatically in conductive hearing loss, where the threshold for BC is lower than that for AC. See Pure tone audiometry.
 
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It's the NHS in the UK. That's all they gave us in a letter. They are really hard to get any other info off them.
 
I am not sure, but I think 20db is perfect hearing, and 120db is deaf

From what you have for results, she has mild hearing lost. Why didn't you just call up your audiologist?
 
Again NHS, you cant just ring up and ask questions or even make an appointment just to ask questions.

From what I can work out.
BC 40db shows the inner ear deafness
AC 80db shows the conductive side of deafness but I think you take away her 40db of inner ear deafness which leaves her with again 40db of conductive deafness.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

NaidaUP said:
Again NHS, you cant just ring up and ask questions or even make an appointment just to ask questions.

From what I can work out.
BC 40db shows the inner ear deafness
AC 80db shows the conductive side of deafness but I think you take away her 40db of inner ear deafness which leaves her with again 40db of conductive deafness.

BC is conductive loss
AC is s.neural/nerve loss

"Normal" for an adult is between 5-15db ... Sometimes pushed to 20db.

Effectively what the test shows is that they have mixed hearing loss (which is what most of us actually have). More nerve than conductive.

HTH
 
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