Adolf Rinne
Heinrich Adolf Rinne (1819-1868) was a German otologist
Rinne’s 1855 experiments established the principle that in normal hearing, air conduction (AC) exceeds bone conduction (BC), while the reverse suggests conductive hearing loss. His carefully described tuning fork method became a standard diagnostic manoeuvre in otology — although this significance was not appreciated during his lifetime. The test gained wider adoption only after the advocacy of August Lucae (1835–1911) and Friedrich Bezold (1842–1908) from the 1880s.
Born in Vlotho an der Weser in 1819, Rinne studied medicine at Göttingen and Munich, earning his doctorate at Göttingen in 1846. He practised first in Göttingen, later moving to Sandstadt near Stade (1857), and then to Holle near Hildesheim (1860). In 1868 he was appointed to the psychiatric asylum in Hildesheim, where he died later that year of dysentery.
Rinne was an inquisitive and wide-ranging thinker, publishing works on auditory physiology, phonation, cranial anatomy, and philosophical reflections on materialism and psychology. His experiments on hearing involved ingenious observations — including the first description of tuning fork testing against the teeth and mastoid, and the clear articulation of clinical implications for auditory nerve versus conductive pathology.
Though unheralded during his life, Rinne’s clinical insights remain foundational in modern otology.
Rinne is best remembered for the eponymous Rinne test (1834) – a fundamental clinical tool in the assessment of hearing loss.
Biography
- 1819 – Born January 24 in Vlotho an der Weser, Regierungsbezirk Minden, Germany
- Studied medicine at University of Göttingen and University of Munich
- 1846 – Received doctorate from University of Göttingen [previous sources omitted this date — now confirmed]
- 1846–1857 – Practised medicine in Göttingen
- 1850 – Published Über das Stimmorgan und die Bildung der Sprache
- 1855 – Described the tuning fork hearing test now known as Rinne’s test in Beiträge zur Physiologie des menschlichen Ohres
- 1857 – Moved to Sandstadt near Stade to practise medicine
- 1860 – Moved to Holle near Hildesheim
- 1864 – Published further work on auditory physiology in Zeitschrift für rationelle Medicin
- 1866 – Published Über die Formen des Himmelgewölbes
- 1868 – Appointed physician at the psychiatric asylum (Irrenanstalt) in Hildesheim
- 1868 – Published Materialismus und ethisches Bedürfnis in ihrem Verhältnisse zur Psychologie
- July 26, 1868 – Died of dysentery in Hildesheim, Germany
Medical Eponyms
Rinne test (1834)
A hearing test comparing air conduction (AC) with bone conduction (BC) on the same side.
- Normal (positive Rinne): AC > BC
- Conductive hearing loss (negative Rinne): BC ≥ AC
Rinne initially described the test as an experimental observation, adding in a footnote its potential diagnostic value in distinguishing sensorineural from conductive deafness. The test was popularised by Lucae and Bezold from 1881 onwards.
1855 Rinne publishes Beiträge zur Physiologie des menschlichen Ohres. He described 22 experiments on hearing and describes test comparing air vs bone conduction
Original
English
Versuch I. Ein leicht anzustellender Versuch zeigt uns, in welchem Grade die Leitung durch die Schädelknochen, selbst für Töne, die durch Schwingungen eines festen Körpers entstehen und unmittelbar auf das Skelett übertragen werden, hinter der normalen Leitung durch Luft, Trommelfell, u.s.w. zurücksteht. Ich stemme eine durch Anschlagen zum Tönen gebrachte Stimmgabel gegen die oberen Schneidezähne, und lasse sie in dieser Lage bis zu dem Momente, wo der in Anfange sehr klare Ton für mich unhörbar wird. Jetzt bringe ich die Stimmgabel vor das äussere Ohr, und höre aufs Neue den Ton mit grosser Intensität. Erst nach geraumer Zeit verklingt derselbe auch hier. Bei allen Personen mit gesundem Ohre, bei denen ich diesen Versuch wiederholte, war der Erfolg derselbe.
Anmerkung. Es lässt sich dieser Versuch auch zur Sicherung der Diagnose bei nervöser Schwerhörigkeit anwenden. Denn hat derselbe bei Schwerhörigen ungeachtet ihrer Krankheit denselben Erfolg, wie bei Gesunden, so schliessen wir mit Recht, dass das Verhältniss der Leitungsfähigkeit der Kopfknochen und der complicirten acustischen Apparate das normale is, also der Hörnerv krank sein muss. Hört dagegen der Patient den durch die Kopfknochen zugeleiteten Ton eben so lange oder gar länger, als den auf dem normalen Wege zugeführten, so schliessen wir auf eine Krankheit eines der leitenden Apparate
Experiment I. An simple experiment demonstrates the degree to which conduction through the skull bones lags behind normal conduction through the air. I press a tuning fork, which I have struck, against my upper incisors and leave it in this position until the moment when the tone becomes inaudible to me. I then bring the tuning fork to the external ear to once again hear the tone with great intensity. Only after some time does it fade away here as well. This occured in all persons with healthy ears on whom I repeated this experiment.
Note: This experiment can also be used to confirm the diagnosis of sensorineural deafness. If it has the same effect on hearing-impaired individuals, regardless of their illness, as it does on healthy individuals, then we rightly conclude that the relationship between the conduction capacity of the skull bones and the complex acoustic apparatus is normal, and therefore the auditory nerve must be diseased. If, on the other hand, the patient hears the sound transmitted through the skull bones just as long or even longer than the sound transmitted through the normal pathway, then we conclude that one of the conducting apparatuses is diseased.
Controversies
Incorrect first name – Friedrich Heinrich Rinne is an erroneous attribution in multiple 19th- and 20th-century references (e.g. Dorland’s Medical Dictionary, Garrison & Morton, Surgeon-General’s Index Catalogue). Correct name is Heinrich Adolf Rinne
Pronunciation error – The test is often incorrectly pronounced “Rinné” (French). The proper German pronunciation is Rin-neh.
Major Publications
- Rinne A. Über das Stimmorgan und die Bildung der Stimme. Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin, Berlin, 1850: 1-52
- Rinne A. Beiträge zur Physiologie des menschlichen Ohres. Vierteljahrschrift für die Praktische Heilkunde. 1855; 12(1): 71-123 [Rinne Test]
- Rinne A. Beiträge zur Physiologie des menschlichen Ohres. Vierteljahrschrift für die Praktische Heilkunde. 1855; 12(2): 45-72
- Rinne A. Nachträgliche Bemerkungen zu den Beiträgen zur Physiologie des menschlichen Ohres. Vierteljahrschrift für die Praktische Heilkunde. 1855; 12(2): 155-156
- Rinne A. Beiträge zur Physiologie des menschlichen Ohres. Zeitschrift für rationelle Medicin, 1864; 24(1): 12-64
- Rinne A. Über die Formen des Himmelgewölbes. Zeitschrift für rationelle Medicin, 1866
- Rinne A. Materialismus und ethisches Bedürfnis in ihrem Verhältnisse zur Psychologie. Braunschweig, 1868
References
Biography
- Politzer A. Geschichte der Ohrenheilkunde. 1913: II; 80 (portrait and biography)
- Heck WE. Dr A Rinne. Laryngoscope. 1962; 72(5): 647-662
Eponymous terms
- Sonnenschein R. A Study of the Rinne Test in One Hundred Cases. Laryngoscope. 1922; 32(3): 184–204
- Tschiassny K. Tuning fork tests; a historical review. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1946 Jun;55:423-30.
- Bickerton RC, Barr GS. The origin of the tuning fork. J R Soc Med. 1987 Dec;80(12):771-3.
Eponym
the person behind the name
