Weber test and unilateral conductive loss

[MudPhud20XX]

So this is one of those concepts that was not really intuitive to me.

I get that if unilateral sensorineural loss, vibration is louder in normal ear, but in case of conductive loss, why is the vibration louder in affected ear? Shouldn't it still be the opposite?

So examples of conductive loss are otitis media and otosclerosis.

Can anyone help me out?

Many thanks in advance.

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[ChessMaster3000]

So this is one of those concepts that was not really intuitive to me.

I get that if unilateral sensorineural loss, vibration is louder in normal ear, but in case of conductive loss, why is the vibration louder in affected ear? Shouldn't it still be the opposite?

So examples of conductive loss are otitis media and otosclerosis.

Can anyone help me out?

Many thanks in advance.

It's confusing, but if you know that bone conducts better than air in conductive hearing loss, and not as well as air in sensorinueral hearing loss, it all hopefully makes sense. I think that the reason it is louder in the affected ear in conductive, is because the normal ear still has to deal with ambient noise and the affected ear, since ambient nose is being blocked by some obstruction (most common is actually not what you mentioned, but rather cerumen impaction, keep that in mind), then it can "focus" on that noise being conducted thru the bone and therefore it is louder. Whether or not that is actually why, it will help you remember it.

 

[sazerac]

While I can't explain why, the effect can easily be demonstrated. This can also help you get the test questions correct.

(1) mumble to yourself quietly, in a moderately noisy environment like a coffee shop. it's quiet, eh?
(2) put your fingers in your ears (this is conduction loss, your neurons are still OK)
(3) mumble quietly to yourself again
(4) seems louder!

With a conduction loss, noises seem louder when transmitted through bone versus (blocked) air. Which is not normally the case.