Gardiner tuning fork

Tuning fork is used to test hearing. It can be used to perform Rinne, Weber and Absolute bone conduction tests. These tests help in identifying the type of hearing i.e. conductive, senorineural and mixed hearing loss.

Parts of the tuning fork include:

• Prongs
• Shoulder
• Base

Ideal tuning form should be made of good alloy. commonly available tuning fork is made of aluminium.

It should vibrate for one full minute

It should not produce overtones

It should have a wide base

Commonly three frequencies are used:

• 126 Hz
• 252 Hz
• 512 Hz

If one frequency is to be used then 512 should be preferred because it closely matches the speech frequency.