What is the expected result of a Rinne test in a patient with conductive hearing loss?

In the context of the Rinne test, which is used to evaluate hearing loss, the expected result for a patient with conductive hearing loss is that bone conduction (BC) will be greater than air conduction (AC). This is because the mechanism of conductive hearing loss involves issues in the outer or middle ear that obstruct sound transmission. As a result, sounds transmitted through the bone are perceived better than those transmitted through the air, leading to the observation that BC exceeds AC during the test.

In conductive hearing loss, the usual hearing pathway (air conduction) is disrupted, thus artificially favoring bone conduction as it bypasses the problem area. This outcome is what distinguishes conductive hearing loss from sensorineural hearing loss, in which air conduction would typically be better than bone conduction or show no significant difference.

The other potential outcomes relate to lateralization, which indicates which ear hears better in a particular situation but doesn't accurately reflect the expected result of the Rinne test specifically for conductive hearing loss. In the case of lateralization, sound may lateralize to the affected or unaffected ear depending on various factors, but the essential takeaway for the Rinne test in conductive loss is the superior hearing ability through bone conduction compared to air conduction.