On Hearing Tests

Abstract

Necessity for consideration of present hearing tests.—Testing of tonal limits considered; present tests accepted as satisfactory. Anomalous results of comparison of perception of the monochord by air and bone conduction.—The Rinne, Schwabach, Weber and Bing tests destructively criticized.—The Gellé and galvanic cochlear tests; Fraser's modification of Gellé's test.—Suggestions for the improvement of testing.—The “absolute bone conduction” test affords an absolute index of the perceptive component of hearing (nerve function).—Mechanism of transmission of sound waves through the skull (bone “conduction”).—Quantitative determination of hearing power; results expressed on a distance basis are to be preferred; use of tuning forks in obtaining such results.—The mathematics underlying this use of tuning forks.—Accurate quantitative estimation of nerve function (the perceptive component of hearing).