The Bing test in the detection of conductive hearing impairment

The Bing test is based on the principle that occlusion of the external auditory meatus improves the perception of bone-conducted sounds unless there is a conductive hearing impairment. However, its sensitivity and specificity have not been reported. Tuning-fork and audiometric Bing tests were carried out on 126 patients with otological symptoms prior to any otological history or examination. Test results were compared with the pure tone air-bone gaps. The specificity and sensitivity of each test method was estimated. The tuning-fork Bing test was less sensitive than the audiometric Bing test, but had greater specificity. However, the Rinne test with the 256 Hz fork and the loudness comparison method was more sensitive than the Bing tuning-fork test, and had similar specificity. The Rinne is therefore the better test for clinical use.