A term denoting the movement of the sound waves through the air. For example, a hearing test conducted with ear phones is called an "air conduction" hearing test inasmuch as the sound waves move through the external ear canal striking the ear drum.

When pure tones are presented through headphones, the measurement is called air conduction. The sounds go via the air, down the ear canal, through the middle ear, and to the very delicate cochlea in the inner ear.

The term for the transmission of sound through the outer ear, the bones of the middle ear into the inner ear.