title: The early descriptions of the so-called tuning-fork tests of Weber, Rinne, Schwabach, and Bing. II. The "Rhine Test" and its first description by Polansky.
abstract: Concerning the first description of the so-called tuning-fork test of Rinne the literature refers to a publication by him in 1855. In this work Rinne describes, among many other observations, a method to compare air and bone conduction hearing, and adds the remark that the technique could be used for the diagnosis of deafness. It appears, however, that long before Rinne, Polansky (1842) gave a complete account of the test and its practical use. Polansky's description seems to have been forgotten. Rinne's report, too, was lost for a long period until 25 years later when Lucae (1882) and Schwabach (1885) confirmed the usefulness of the test which - in spite of its earlier discovery by Polansky - has born Rinne's name ever since.
mesh_terms: D001303:Auditory Cortex; D001317:Austria; D001844:Bone Conduction; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis; D005858:Germany; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000266:history* / Q000295:instrumentation; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans