What is the Weber test?

• A. Stethoscope
• B. Otoscope
• C. Ruler
• D. Tuning fork

Answer: (D)

The Weber test is a quick tuning-fork test that uses bone conduction to compare hearing in both ears. You strike a tuning fork and place it on the midline of the forehead or skull so the sound travels through the bones to both ears.

If the sound is heard equally in both ears, hearing is symmetric and there’s no unilateral loss detected. If the sound lateralizes, you can interpret it this way: it will tend to sound louder in the ear with a conductive hearing loss, because bone-conducted sound is relatively more perceivable there (the blocked air-conduction pathway makes the affected ear seem louder). If the sound is louder in the opposite ear, that points to a sensorineural loss in the ear with the poor nerve conduction, since that ear’s ability to hear via bone conduction is reduced.

In short, the test helps distinguish conductive versus sensorineural unilateral loss by observing where the tuning-fork sound is heard best.