Tuning forks in the medical profession?

[Ken Jankura]

First off, you should probably ask a medical student there. You got the
wrong group of Rube Goldbergs here. But here's a kind of guess (I did pick
up a bunch of random info having a doctor for a father-in-law for 20 years).
They are used to check hearing (crude method) through bone conduction. That
is, a diagnosis that differentiates between what you hear through conduction
and what you hear through sound waves in the air.
Ken Jankura


----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Goodale" <rrg@unlv.edu>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 9:11 PM
Subject: Tuning forks in the medical profession?


> Being a university tech I sometimes wonder down to the union for lunch.
>  Today I took a detour and browsed the book store for a moment.  Having
> a large medical program the book store stocks an inventory of supplies
> for med students labs and classes.  In the display were stethoscopes,
> forceps, kits for student nurses, sphygmomanometers, and so on.  Along
> with this were tuning forks!  Huge ones, (very low frequency), with
> sliding adjustable weights on the tines to adjust the pitch. There were
> two different sizes and the label proudly announced them as "highly
> accurate for the medical profession".
>
> I would find it hard to believe that these are used for testing hearing
> since the objective of a university it to teach techniques using current
> and modern equipment.  So what would one use a tuning fork for if one
> were studying modern medicine?  Perhaps to scan a patient's credit for
> paying the bill?
>
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV
>
>