6. Explain the Weber test and normal findings.  7. Describe the normal pathway of hearing and the alternate pathway of hearing.

6. The Weber test is a quick screening test for hearing that can detect unilateral (one-sided) conductive hearing loss and unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The test is named after Ernst Heinrich Weber. Here's how it's performed:

• A tuning fork is struck against the examiner's hand or knee to make it vibrate.
• The base of the vibrating tuning fork is then placed in the middle of the patient's forehead or front teeth.
• The patient is then asked where they hear the sound.

Normal findings: If the patient has normal hearing, or equal hearing loss in both ears, they will hear the sound equally in both ears. This is known as a negative Weber test.

7. The normal pathway of hearing involves both air conduction and bone conduction.

• Air conduction: Sound waves enter the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are transferred to the three small bones in the middle ear, which amplify the sound and send it to the cochlea in the inner ear. The cochlea contains fluid and hair cells; the fluid moves in response to the sound waves, causing the hair cells to bend. This generates electrical signals that are sent to the brain via the auditory nerve.

• Bone conduction: This is an alternate pathway of hearing. Instead of sound waves traveling through the air into the ear canal, they are transmitted through the bones of the skull directly to the cochlea, bypassing the outer and middle ear. This is how we hear our own voice, and it's also the principle behind the Weber and Rinne hearing tests.

In conditions where the outer or middle ear is blocked or damaged, bone conduction may be the primary way a person hears.