Physicist Venturi from Modena Italy in 1802 proved that perception of direction of sound was due to the fact that one ear is hit by more intense sound than the other. He is considered to be the father of experimental acoustics. He analysed and reported the mode of vibration of tuning fork around its nodal points. The exact physics of tuning fork was studied by the German Physicist E.F.F. Clinical otologists started believing that they had a diagnostic tool that could differentiate middle ear deafness from inner ear ones.
These wooden pitch pipes caused lots of errors due to temperature and humidity changes which could affect these wooden pipes. Before this discovery musicians relied on wooden pitch pipes to identify the frequencies. Invention of tuning fork by John Shore in 1711 a trumpeter changed the whole scenario. Since this differentiation had very little therapeutic value for otolaryngologists those days, little progress was made in this direction. This knowledge was also widely available those days. Air conduction and bone conduction threshold measurements could differentiate middle ear from inner ear causes of deafness. Right from 17th century onwards it was established that humans perceive sound both via air conduction and bone conduction. The three commonly performed tuning fork tests include: Rinne test, weber test and Absolute bone conduction test. All the commonly performed tuning fork tests are discussed in detail. This article reviews the history of tuning fork tests, its current status as a clinical examination tool.
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