As a nurse practitioner, you are responsible for assessing cranial nerves as a part of a neurological exam. What cranial nerve assessment tests hearing?
Correct Answer: C
Olfactory nerve (CN I)
The olfactory nerve transmits information to the brain regarding a person's sense of smell. This cranial nerve assessment is performed by having the client close their eyes to identify familiar odors.
Optic nerve (CN II)
The optic nerve transmits information to the brain regarding a person's vision.
Oculomotor nerve (CN III)
The oculomotor nerve helps control muscle movements of the eyes. The oculomotor nerve provides movement to most of the muscles that move the eyeball and upper eyelid, known as extraocular muscles. The oculomotor nerve also helps with involuntary functions of the eye.
Trochlear nerve (CN IV)
The trochlear nerve is also involved in eye movement. The trochlear nerve, like the oculomotor nerve, originates in the midbrain. It powers the contralateral superior oblique muscle, which allows the eye to point downward and inward.
Trigeminal nerve (CN V)
The trigeminal nerve is the largest cranial nerve and has both motor and sensory functions. Its motor functions help a person to chew and clench the teeth and give sensation to muscles in the tympanic membrane of the ear. This test is performed by touching the face and corneal reflex of the eye with a wisp of cotton and pin-pricking the skin and mucosa to test touch.
Abducens nerve (CN VI)
The abducens nerve also helps control eye movements. It helps the lateral rectus muscle, which is one of the extraocular muscles, to turn the gaze outward.
Facial nerve (CN VII)
The facial nerve functions to produce facial expressions and has both motor and sensory functions.
Vestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII)
The vestibulocochlear nerve is involved with a person's hearing and balance. It is assessed by checking the client's hearing using an audiometer or by simply whispering in the client's ear. Hearing loss is tested with the Weber and Rinne tests.
Glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX)
The glossopharyngeal nerve possesses both motor and sensory functions. It is involved with the sensation of taste on the back of the tongue.
Vagus nerve (CN X)
The vagus nerve has a range of functions, providing motor, sensory, and parasympathetic functions. It plays a role in taste sensation, provides movement to the throat and soft palate, and regulates heart rhythm.
Accessory nerve (CN XI)
The accessory nerve provides motor function to the neck. It controls muscles that allow a person to rotate, extend, and flex the neck and shoulders. The cranial part of the accessory nerve combines with the vagus nerve.
Hypoglossal nerve (CN XII)
The hypoglossal nerve is a motor nerve that supplies the tongue muscles.