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Conductive hearing loss |
| Conductive hearing loss Classification and external resources |
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| Anatomy of the human ear. | |
| ICD-10 | H90.0-H90.2 |
| ICD-9 | 389.0 |
| DiseasesDB | 3043 |
| MeSH | D006314 |
Conductive hearing loss happens when there is a problem conducting sound waves through the outer ear, tympanic membrane (eardrum) or middle ear (ossicles). This type of hearing loss may occur in conjunction with sensorineural hearing loss or alone.
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When a Weber test is carried out, sound localizes to the ear affected by the conductive loss. A Rinne test, in which air conduction is normally greater than bone conduction, is usually negative (abnormal), and shows higher greater bone conduction than air conduction.
Table 1. A table comparing sensorineural hearing loss to conductive
| Criteria | Sensorineural hearing loss | Conductive hearing loss |
| Anatomical Site | Inner ear, cranial nerve VIII, or central processing centers | Middle ear (ossicular chain), tympanic membrane, or external ear |
| Weber Test | Sound localizes to normal ear | Sound localizes to affected ear (ear with conductive loss) |
| Rinne Test | Positive Rinne; Air conduction > Bone conduction (both air and bone conduction are decreased equally, but the difference between them is unchanged). | Negative Rinne; Bone Conduction > Air Conduction (Bone/Air Gap) |
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