Question

A female patient with hearing loss is examined and is found to be Rinne negative at 256 Hzand 512 Hz, while Rinne positive at 1024 Hz. What is the expected air conduction and bone conduction gap?

• A. 30-45 dB
• B. 15-30 dB
• C. 45-60 dB
• D. >60 dB

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

In the given scenario, a female patient exhibits Rinne negative results at 256 Hz and 512 Hz frequencies, but Rinne positive at 1024 Hz. Let's analyze this:

• Rinne negative at 256 Hz and 512 Hz: This occurs when bone conduction is better than air conduction, indicating conductive hearing loss for these frequencies.
• Rinne positive at 1024 Hz: This suggests normal hearing or sensorineural hearing loss where air conduction is better than bone conduction, indicating hearing improvement or normalization at higher frequencies.

To understand the air-bone gap:

• An air-bone gap at lower frequencies means there's a significant difference between air and bone conduction thresholds.
• The Rinne test results imply a noticeable conductive hearing loss at 256 Hz and 512 Hz, improving at higher frequencies (1024 Hz).

Typically, a 30-45 dB air-bone gap is expected in such conductive hearing loss scenarios. This aligns with the correct answer option. Consequently,

The expected air conduction and bone conduction gap is 30-45 dB.