Voice tests and tuning fork tests are easily carried out in a doctor’s office with little or no equipment.

Voice Tests

A good idea of how well a patient hears can be established through simple observation – can he/she hear normal conversational voice or do you have to raise your voice to make yourself clear? If a patient is deaf, you need to know roughly how much and what type (conductive, sensorineural or mixed) of hearing loss he/she has (see Chapter 4). Simple voice/whisper tests can be conducted for a crude assessment of hearing level.

Tuning Fork Tests

Tuning fork tests can help with lateralising deafness and with deciding which type of hearing loss is present (Figures 3.1 and 3.2).