What test is conducted via bone conduction to assess the occlusion effect in hearing loss?

The Bing Test is specifically designed to evaluate the occlusion effect, which occurs when sound is blocked from exiting the ear canal, typically due to the presence of an object like an earplug or the ear itself during bone conduction testing. In this test, an audiologist places a tuning fork on the mastoid bone (to assess bone conduction) while alternately occluding and unoccluding the ear canal.

When the ear canal is occluded, the perceived loudness of the sound can increase if there's conductive hearing loss, demonstrating the occlusion effect. This outcome helps distinguish between different types of hearing loss and assesses the functional impact of the occlusion on acoustic perception.

The other tests mentioned do serve different purposes. The Rinne Test compares air conduction to bone conduction but doesn't focus specifically on the occlusion effect. Pure Tone Audiometry measures hearing thresholds across frequencies without evaluating the effect of occlusion. The Speech Reception Threshold assesses the lowest level at which speech can be understood, which does not provide information about the occlusion effect or its implications for hearing loss.