Which method is used to assess a patient's hearing through bone conduction?

The Weber test is a well-established method used to assess a patient's hearing through bone conduction. In this test, a tuning fork is struck and placed at the center of the forehead or on the top of the head. The sound from the tuning fork travels through the bones of the skull, allowing the examiner to evaluate how sound is perceived in each ear. If there is a hearing loss in one ear, the patient will typically perceive the sound as louder in the ear with better hearing, or vice versa depending on whether the loss is conductive or sensorineural.

In contrast, the Bing test uses a tuning fork to determine the presence of conductive hearing loss, but it primarily assesses the difference in perception when the ear canal is occluded and then opened. SRT testing (Speech Reception Threshold) involves evaluating a patient's ability to hear and understand speech, but it does not specifically focus on assessing bone conduction. The frequency response curve measures an auditory device's response to various frequencies, which does not pertain directly to the assessment method for bone conduction hearing. Therefore, the Weber test is specifically designed for assessing hearing through bone conduction, making it the correct choice.