False Negative Rinne's in Unilateral Conductive Hearing Loss

Abstract

Aims: It is accepted that Rinne's test is negative in the same ear having a conductive hearing loss (CHL). It is also accepted that false negative Rinne's occurs in the ear with severe sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). However, we wanted to demonstrate the presence of false negative RInne in unilateral CHL. Materials and Methods: Observational study with 13 patients with unilateral, moderate to severe CHL and ten patients with severe to profound SNHL of 40db-115 db in the frequency range of 250/500/1000 Hz. Results: The patients with CHL demonstrated a false negative Rinne on the better hearing ear at a minimum threshold of 50 dB while patients with SNHL demonstrated false negative Rinne on the worse hearing ear with a minimum threshold of 70 dB. Conclusions: Based on our observation, false negative RInne can occur in patients with conductive hearing loss and this phenomenon needs to have a different name.