If the tone gravitates to the ear with the worst air-conduction thresholds, a unilateral conductive loss is indicated, and the exam form is marked "Weber Positive", indicating a conductive involvement in the loss. We present a tone, usually 512 Hz and/or 1024 Hz, to the frontal sinuses of the forehead, while the recipient is asked to indicate in which ear they hear the tone the loudest (Figure 3). With these newly unearthed tuning forks, however, the test is quick and safe. Its purpose was to detect possible unilateral conductive involvement in a hearing loss. The Weber Test was once an important tuning fork test that was then smugly replaced by the electric bone oscillator, only to fall out of favor in the face of bruised sinuses, poked-out eyes, and scraped foreheads. Coupled with recent scientific discoveries on the plasticity of the human brain, revival of an ancient practice promises to offer all hearing instrument specialists with a modality with which to extend their rehabilitative services.Īs our intrepid archeologist slogs through the manuscript in an attempt to decipher precious time-proven test methods, he pieces together the following lost tests for the mastery of contemporary enthusiasts: In the hands of the skilled clinician, this compact system solves myriad problems that still exist even with today's digital technology.
Illustrations for holding and striking the forks are shown in Figure 2.įigure 2.
It requires no electricity, set up, or maintenance.
#Tuning fork purpose portable
The forgotten manuscript speaks of a convenient, lightweight, and portable soundfield system that can be taken anywhere one serves the hearing impaired. This rare artifact is accompanied with a tattered tutorial which speaks of skills and capabilities lost in the mad rush to modern technology: Weber, Rinne, Bing, and Schwabach, along with updated and unique approaches for troubleshooting and counseling hearing aid users, such as balancing binaural hearing aids, ear training for spatial skills, and contemporary skills for Transcranial CROS fittings (Chartrand, 2003). Thereafter, German physicist Chladni in 1800 developed a set of forks for testing human hearing (Feldmann, 1997).įigure 1. by Italian physician Capivacci to determine the location of hearing disorders, it was not until Englishman John Shore developed a single tuning fork for tuning musical instruments at A423.5 cps that the modern tuning fork took shape. Unearthed, our adventurer finds deep in the dusty bins of history a soft leather case containing six heavy-duty alloy tuning forks that resonate at the octaves of 128 Hz, 256 Hz, 512 Hz, 1024 Hz, 2048 Hz, and 4096 Hz (Figure 1). As in an Indiana Jones adventure, we search for the lost art of tuning fork testing like that used before the advent of modern electronic audiometers, impedance audiometry, real-ear measurement systems, and electroacoustic analyzers.