A hearing test is used to determine if an individual is suffering from some form of hearing loss. Hearing loss is a disability which can be graded in terms of its effect on the patient. Cases of hearing loss may be partial, progressive or complete. An individual with partial hearing loss may supplement hearing with the use of a hearing aid. Progressive hearing loss refers to a condition where some disease, infection or medical condition is causing the individual to lose hearing over a period of time. There are many ways in which an individual can be tested for hearing. One such test is the Weber hearing test. An individual hear sounds based on the functioning of all parts of the hearing system. This includes the membrane, the inner ear bones and the nerve-brain connection. A failure of any of these parts of the hearing system will lead to deafness, the degree of which depends on the degree of the damage.
The Weber hearing test is used to determine if an individual has conductive hearing loss or sensorineural hearing loss. The Weber test may be complimented with the Rinne test, thus the Weber and Rinne test may be used together on some patients. Conductive hearing loss is a condition where the sound does not conduct properly into the organs that are designed to pick it up. Sensorinerual hearing loss refers to a condition where sound is not being picked up properly even though it reaches the organs that are designed to pick it up. These two types of hearing loss present different results when the patient is tested using the Weber test for hearing disabilities.
The Weber hearing test is conducted using a tuning fork. The tuning fork is agitated and then placed on various parts of the head and forehead. The patient is asked to report which ear is able to hear the sound louder or softer, whichever be the case. The results of the Weber test for deafness depend entirely on the cooperation and attention of the patient. It is in fact this aspect of the Weber hearing test that is most commonly criticized. There is no quantitative assessment that can be done using the Weber hearing test. The results can be described in the form of better or worse results rather than with any numbers that can quantify the degree of the problem. The test also needs to be performed by a patient who accepts that there may be some hearing problem. If the patient is non-cooperative, the result of the test is likely to be inaccurate and therefore of no use to the doctor or the patient.