Glossary of Ear and Hearing Loss Terms

The main visual/gestural (signed) language of culturally deaf people in the United States and Canada. ASL has its own word order and set of grammatical and syntactical rules.

Public law 101-336 passed in 1990 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, transportation, public accommodation, state and local government and telecommunications. This is a “civil rights act” for persons with disabilities.

An increase in the intensity (loudness) of sounds provided by a hearing aid or assistive listening device.

A telephone that is equipped with a volume control either built into the handset, the base of the phone or via an attachment.

An electronic device for increasing the strength or gain of an electrical signal.

The physical intensity of a sound. (Subjective impression of “loudness.)

Auditory Neuropathy. (See Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder.)

Formerly called Auditory Neuropathy/Auditory Dyssynchrony (AN/AD). (See Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder.)

A type of hearing aid that provides amplification by continuous changes in the voltage of the sound signal being amplified. All the older hearing aids worked this way. Modern hearing aids are mostly digital hearing aids.

The second of the three bones in the middle ear. Technically called the Incus.

The tip of the snail-shell-shaped cochlea. The apical region is where low frequency sounds are detected and sent to the brain.

Malformation of the inner ear.

See American Sign Language.

See Automatic Signal Processing.

See Automatic Speech Recognition.

Behavior that allows people to request their own rights without interfering with the rights of others. Few hard of hearing people are assertive. Rather, they tend to be passive.

A broad category of devices that are designed to help hard of hearing people hear (function) better in specific situations. Many ALDs are used in conjunction with the person’s hearing aids to improve their performance in noisy situations or when the speaker is at a distance from the hard of hearing person. Examples of ALDs include amplified telephones, FM systems, infrared systems and induction loop systems.

A system used in rooms and with larger groups to make dialogue accessible. These include FM systems,Infrared systems and Induction loop systems.

Impaired coordination that typically reveals itself in a staggering gait. Gait ataxia is one of the results of a damaged vestibular (balance) system. It can be result from taking ototoxic drugs.

Absence or malformation of the outer or middle ear. For example, there may be no pinna or ear canal.

To decrease the amplitude (loudness) or energy of a signal.

Same as T-coil and telecoil. (see Telecoil.)

A type of assistive listening device that consists of a coil of wire laid around a room and hooked to an audio devices such as a television or public address system. The coil creates a magnetic field that transmits sound to people with hearing aids and telecoils who are sitting inside the loop. They hear clear sound without background noise or echoes.

A graphic representation of a person’s hearing loss. More technically, a graph of a person’s hearing threshold levels (in decibels) plotted on a chart to show the softest sound a person can detect at various frequencies (typically between 250 and 8,000 Hz) from low pitch (left side) to high pitch (right side).

Tests conducted by an audiologist to determine whether a hearing loss is present, what tones (pitches) are affected, how severe the hearing loss is and the type of hearing loss. The evaluation also includes recommendations as to what should be done to ameliorate the hearing loss. Click on the following link for an in-depth article of what a complete audiological evaluation entails.