American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery; professional organization of otolaryngologists

1. Audiotory behavior index; 2. Auditory brainstem implant

Auditory brainstem response; auditory evoked potential, originating from Cranial Nerve VIII and auditory brainstem structures, consisting of five to seven identifiable peaks that represent neural function of auditory pathways and nuclei

ADA; organization of audiologists with a particular interest in dispensing hearing aids

loss of recognition of sounds

Loss of memory for sounds

Loss of memory for sounds

Total energy flow through the middle ear system expressed in mhos; reciprocal of impedance

Sound produced when an amplification system goes into oscillation, produced by amplified sound from the receiver reaching the microphone and being reamplified; e.g., hearing aid squeal

Sound produced when an amplification system goes into oscillation, produced by amplified sound from the receiver reaching the microphone and being reamplified; e.g., hearing aid squeal

Global term representing acoustic admittance (total energy flow) and acoustic impedance (total opposition to energy flow) of the middle ear system

Total opposition to energy flow of sound through the middle ear system

Unit of measure of conductance of sound wave flow through a medium; reciprocal of acoustic ohm

Reflexive contraction of the tensor tympani and stapedius muscles in response to sound; SYN: acoustic reflex

Cranial Nerve VIII; auditory nerve, consisting of a vestibular and cochlear branch

Neurilemoma cochleovestibular Schwannoma; benign encapsulated neoplasm composed of Schwann cells arising from the intracranial segment of Cranial Nerve VIII; SYN: acoustic neuroma; acoustic neurinoma; acoustic tumor

Cochleovestibular Schwannoma

Inflammation of the auditory portion of Cranial Nerve VIII, often of a viral nature, resulting in acute retrocochlear disorder; SYN: cochlear neuritis

AN; generic term referring to a neoplasm of Cranial Nerve VIII, most often a cochleovestibular Schwannoma; SYN: acoustic tumor

AR; reflexive contraction of the intra-aural muscles in response to loud sound, dominated by the stapedius muscle in humans; SYN: acoustic stapedial reflex

1. Damage to hearing from a transient, high-intensity sound; 2. Long-term insult to hearing from excessive noise exposure

Generic term referring to a neoplasm of Cranial Nerve VIII, most often a cochleovestibular Schwannoma; SYN: acoustic neuroma

The study and science of sound and its perception

The influence of an earmold's dimensions, such as bore length and diameter, on the spectral content of sound reaching the tympanic membrane

Hearing loss that occurs after birth as a result of injury or disease; not congenital; SYN: adventitious hearing loss

Sense of hearing

Diffuse reddened, pustular lesions surrounding hair follicles, usually due to gram-negative bacterial infection during hot, humid weather and often initiated by swimming; COL: swimmer's ear

Inflammation of the labyrinth resulting in acute vertigo, vegetative symptoms, sensorineural hearing loss, and tinnitus

1. Academy of Dispensing Audiologists; 2. American with Disabilities Act

FR; hearing aid circuitry technique in which frequency response changes as input level changes

Nonlinear automatic signal processing circuit in a hearing aid in which gain at high frequencies decreases as input level increases; SYN: BILL

Nonlinear automatic signal processing circuit in a hearing aid in which gain at low frequencies decreases as input level increases; SYN: TILL

ANC; multiple microphone instrument that attempts to reduce background noise by changing the hearing aid microphone’s directionality adaptively

ASP; automatic signal processing

Auditory evoked potential; electrophysiologic response to sound, usually distinguished according to latency, including EcoG, ABR, MLR, LVR, SSEP, P3

Uditory evoked response

Automatic gain control – input; circuitry of a hearing aid in which the volume control follows the AGC

Automatic gain control – output; circuitry of a hearing aid in which the AGC follows the volume control

Articulation index or audibility index; measure of the proportion of speech cues that are audible; SYN: speech intelligibility index

Transmission of sound, delivered by an earphone, through the outer and middle ear to the cochlea; COM: bone conduction

Differences in dB between air-conducted and bone-conducted hearing thresholds for a given frequency in the same ear, used to describe the magnitude of conductive hearing loss

Hereditary, sensorineural hearing loss occurring during childhood, with progression that is suggestive of early presbyacusis

Assistive listening device; hearing instrument or class of hearing instruments, usually with a remote microphone for improving signal-to-noise ratio, including FM systems, personal amplifiers, telephone amplifiers, television listeners

Assistive devices, such as doorbells, alarm clocks, smoke detectors, telephones, etc., that use light flashes or vibration instead of sound to alert individuals with deafness to a particular sound

Surrounding sounds in an acoustic environment

AAA; professional association of audiologists founded in 1988

Differences in dB between air-conducted and bone-conducted hearing thresholds for a given frequency in the same ear, used to describe the magnitude of conductive hearing loss

AAO-HNS; professional organization of otolaryngologists

ANS; professional organization of otolaryngologists who have a special interest in neurotology

AAO-HNS; professional organization of otolaryngologists

ASHA; professional organization of audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech and hearing scientists; formerly American Speech and Hearing Association

Group of bactericidal antibiotics, which are often cochleotoxic and/or vestibulotoxic, derived from streptomyces or micromonosporum used primarily against gram-negative bacteria, including streptomycin, neomycin, kanamycin, and gentamicin

1. Increasing of the intensity of sound; 2. Generic description of a hearing aid or assistive listening device

Use of a hearing aid in both ears

Hearing aid amplification in which the gain is the same for all input levels until the maximum output is reached

Amplification whose gain is not the same for all input levels

Hearing aid response with gain limited over a restricted frequency range, selected to match the audiometric configuration

Device that increases the intensity of a sound

Any of several types of assistive devices designed to increase the intensity level output of a telephone receiver

Continuously varying over time; ANT: digital

Amplification device that uses conventional, continuously varying signal processing

ADC; the process of turning continuously varying (analog) signals into a numerical (digital) representation of the waveform

Connection or opening between two spaces or vessels

Without echo or reverberation

Tumor made up of blood or lymph cells

1. American Neurotology Society; 2. Automatic nervous system

American National Standards Institute; association of specialists, manufacturers, and consumers that determines standards for measuring instruments, including audiometers; formerly ASA

Total or partial loss of the power to use or understand words, usually caused by brain disease or injury

Association for Research in Otolaryngology; professional organization devoted to research related to ear, nose, and throat diseases and functions

Acoustic reflex threshold; lowest intensity level of a stimulus at which an acoustic reflex is detected

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; professional organization of audiologists and speech-language pathologists; formerly American Speech and Hearing Association

American Sign Language; common form of manual communication used in the United States

ALD; hearing instrument or class of hearing instruments, usually with a remote microphone for improving signal-to-noise ratio, including FM systems, personal amplifiers, telephone amplifiers, television listeners

American Tinnitus Association; consumer organization of people with tinnitus

Congenital absence or pathologic closure of a normal anatomical opening

Connection or opening between two spaces or vessels

State of being audible

AI; measure of the proportion of speech cues that are audible; SYN: articulation index, speech intelligibility index

Chreshold of hearing sensitivity

Graphic representation of threshold of hearing sensitivity as a function of stimulus frequency

Initial audiogram obtained for comparison with later audiograms to quantify any change in hearing sensitivity

Audiogram obtained by means of behavioral audiometry

Graph of the threshold of hearing sensitivity, expressed in dB HL, as determined by pure-tone air-conduction and bone-conduction audiometry at octave and half-octave frequencies ranging from 250 Hz to 8000 Hz

The study and science of sound and its perception

Healthcare professional who is credentialed in the practice of audiology to provide a comprehensive array of services related to prevention, evaluation, and rehabilitation of hearing impairment and its associated communication disorder

Branch of healthcare devoted to the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of hearing disorders

Electronic instrument designed for measurement of hearing sensitivity and for calibrated delivery of suprathreshold stimuli

Measurement of hearing by means of audiometer

Connection or opening between two spaces or vessels

Pertaining to instruction that uses both auditory and visual presentation of information

Hearing

Pertaining to the sense of hearing

Impairment in the comprehension of spoken language; SYN: fluent aphasia, receptive aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia

ABR; auditory evoked potential originating from Cranial Nerve VIII and auditory brainstem structures, consisting of five to seven identifiable peaks that represent neural function of auditory pathways and nuclei

The study and science of sound and its perception

ABR measure used to predict hearing sensitivity and to assess the integrity of Cranial Nerve VIII and auditory brainstem structures

External auditory meatus

Vesicle or otocyst in the human embryo that develops from the otic placode and becomes the cochlea; SYN: otic capsule

Auditory area of the cerebral cortex located on the transverse temporal gyrus (Heschl’s gyrus) of the temporal lobe

Verbal information provided to prompt a response as an aid to communication

Diminution or absence of sensory opportunity for neural structures central to the end organ, due to a reduction in auditory stimulation resulting from hearing loss

AEP; electrophysiologic response to sound, usually distinguished according to latency, including ECoG, ABR, MLR, LVR, SSEP, P3

Impairment in the comprehension of spoken language; SYN: fluent aphasia, receptive aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia

Perceptual process of determining the location of a sound source in an acoustic environment

AN; Cranial Nerve VIII, consisting of a vestibular and cochlear branch; SYN: vestibulocochlear nerve

Peripheral and central auditory nerve fibers and nuclei from Cranial Nerve VIII to the auditory cortex

Aural rehabilitation methods designed to maximize use of residual hearing by structured practice in listening, environmental alteration, hearing aid use, etc.

Pertaining to the ear or hearing

Absence of the opening to the external auditory meatus

Priginating within oneself; e.g., functional hearing loss