Acoustic Nerve (also auditory nerve)
The eighth cranial nerve, the nerve concerned with hearing and balance.
Acoustic Neurinoma
This is a tumour, on the hearing and balance nerves, which is normally benign, but may result in gradual hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or dizziness. It is sometimes called vestibular schwannoma
Acoustics
This is the scientific study of sound and sound waves with special regard to its generation, transmission and reception.
Acquired Deafness
A loss of hearing that occurs or develops during a life, but it was not present at birth.
Air Conduction
The process by which sound is sent or conducted to the inner ear through the external ear canal and middle ear. To test air conduction sounds are sent to the inner ear through a loudspeaker or earphone.
Amplitude
This is the height of a sound wave, which is associated with the crescendo of a sound.
Ampulla
This is the swelling at the base of each semicircular canal, containing sensory cells, which detect the movement of the fluid within the canals.
Ageusia
This is a loss of the ability to taste.
Alport Syndrome
This is a hereditary kidney condition, which may mean a sensorineural hearing loss, and sometimes eye defects.
Analogue Hearing Aid
They work on the same principal that analogue sounds are stored on an audio tape or a phonograph record. The digital hearing aids typically have far more possible adjustments to them than the older technology. However the analog hearing aids can be superior for those with more profound types of hearing loss. It is a fallacy at this point to think that the digital technology is superior in all cases.
Anosmia
This is the absence of the sense of smell.
Aphasia
This is a partial or total loss of the ability to use or understand language; usually a result of a stroke, brain disease, or injury.
Aphonia
This is the name given to complete loss of voice.
Articulation Disorder
This is the inability to produce speech sounds or phonemes because of imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed, or flow of movement of the lips, tongue, or throat. It means incorrect sound rather than no sound.
Attenuator
With an earphone and a loudspeaker it controls and specifies the intensity of tones produced, for the purposes of an audiogram.
Audiologist
An audiologist is a health care professional who is trained to evaluate hearing loss and related disorders, including the vestibular or balance disorders and tinnitus. Their function is to rehabilitate individuals with hearing loss and the related disorders. An audiologist uses a variety of tests and procedures to assess hearing and balance function and to fit hearing aids and other devices designed to help improve hearing.
Audiometer
An audiometer is a machine used for testing hearing. There are hardware and software units, a hardware unit is a unit connected to a pair of headphones and a feedback button, sometimes controlled by a standard personal computer. The software audiometers can be used on a standard personal computer and can be carried out at home, but their efficiency is not as accurate because the sound cannot be calibrated accurately.
Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test
A test for hearing in infants and young children, to test whether or not there is a brain activity. It involves attaching electrodes to the head to record electrical activity from the hearing nerve and other parts of the brain. Other terms are: Brainstem Evoked Response (BSER), Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential (BAEP), and Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER).
Auditory Nerve
Eighth cranial nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain and it is responsible for hearing and balance. It is a bundle of nerve fibres, which carry the hearing information between the cochlea and the brain. Only a small percentage of hearing loss is caused by problems with the nerve, usually related to an acoustic neuroma (tumour) on the nerve covering. The auditory nerve and the vestibular nerve, both carry balance information from the semicircular canals to the brain.
Auditory Perception
Ability to interpret, and attach a meaning to sounds, so that they are differentiated from other sounds, examples are a doorbell, a shout, or a dog barking.
Auditory Prosthesis
A device that should be able to improve hearing, or substitute something else to improve hearing, by by-passing the usual channels, examples are a hearing aid or a cochlear implant.
Aural Rehabilitation
The techniques used to improve the ability to speak and communicate.
Auricle
The auricle is also known as the pinna and consists of the outer cartilaginous flap of the ear.
Autoimmune Deafness
An individual’s immune system produces abnormal antibodies that attack the body’s healthy tissues, to cause deafness. It is relatively rare and can occur over a period of time or rapidly.
Autism
A brain disorder that begins in early childhood and persists throughout life, it affects development in communication, social interaction, and creative or imaginative play skills.
BAHA
A bone-anchored hearing aid is a relatively new type of hearing aid. It works by vibrating the mastoid bone, which is the large bone mass directly behind the ears, and this sends the sound into the cochlea, instead of the sound being amplified at the eardrum.
Balance
Balance is a biological system that enables individuals to know where their bodies are in relation to their immediate environment, and to maintain the desired position. Balance depends upon the inner ear, eyes, and proprioceptors to provide sensory input to the brain. The brain must then integrate that input and supply motor output to the eyes and muscles.
Normal balance depends on information from the labyrinth in the inner ear, as well as from sight and touch, and from muscle movement. If normal balance is not maintained then the sufferer can keel over, fall, or not be able to maintain their desired position, for example in a chair.
Balance Disorder
A balance disorder is a disruption in the inner ear organ that controls the balance system, which allows individuals to know where their bodies are in relation to other things. The labyrinth works with the visual and skeletal systems, to maintain posture, and also position. A balance order means that someone may start on the edge of the bed and may fall off or go back wards.
Barotrauma
An injury to the middle ear caused by a reduction of air pressure.
Basilar Membrane
The thin sheet of material, which vibrates in response to the movements of the liquid within the cochlea.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
A balance disorder that causes sudden dizziness, spinning, or vertigo when moving the head.
Bilateral hearing loss
A loss of hearing in both ears.
Ossicle Bones
The three tiniest bones in your body are part of your middle ear and are known collectively as the ossicles more commonly known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup. They bridge the gap across the top of your eustachian tube from your eardrum to the window of your cochlea. They mechanically amplify the vibrations of your eardrum and then transmit them to the cochlea. When hearing loss is caused by a problem with these bones, it’s referred to as a conductive loss of hearing and in the majority of cases it can be improved or fixed completely.
Brainstem Implant
An auditory prosthesis that bypasses both the cochlea and auditory nerve. This type of implant helps individuals who cannot benefit from a cochlear implant because their auditory nerves are not functioning. The electrode is placed next to the brain. The effect of these is not normally sufficient to allow a person to hear speech, but they do assist them to lip read speech. This type of surgery is still at the experimental stage and is a far more invasive technique than a cochlea implant and it is normally reserved for the deaf.
BTE behind the Ear Hearing aid
They work by transmitting the sound over the top of the ear into the ear canal, by a tube or ear mould connected to the outer ear.
Central Auditory Processing Disorder
Sufferers’ have an inability to differentiate, recognise, or understand sound and hearing.
Cerumen
The medical term for earwax.
Chemosensory Disorders
Problems concerning the sense of smell or of taste
Cholesteatoma
Accumulation of dead cells inside the middle ear, caused by many ear infections.
Cochlea
The snail-shaped part of the inner ear, the sense organ that translates sound into nerve impulses to be sent to the brain, to be recognised as sounds. In simple terms it is the organ of hearing.
Cochlear Implant
A medical device that bypasses damaged structures in the inner ear to directly stimulates the auditory nerve, which allows a number of deaf people to learn to interpret sounds and speech.
Cognition
What we call thinking skills they include perception, memory, awareness, reasoning, judgment, intellect, and imagination.
Compression
Compression is a feature of some hearing aids, it is useful for people who have a reduced dynamic range of hearing or if they suffer from recruitment, which is the abnormal sensation of loudness. Sometimes the compression can make the aid distort.
Conductive Hearing Impairment
A type of hearing loss, which is caused by the dysfunction of the outer or the middle ear, they fail to conduct the sounds to the cochlea. A conductive loss is usually caused by the ossicles or by the eardrum. It is not very common, as nearly 90% of hearing loss cases are as a result of sensorineural losses. Because a conductive loss of hearing is often a flat loss across the board of all frequencies, the hearing aid nearly always corrects the problems. If it does not surgery can improve the situation.
Congenital deafness
The word congenital refers to any condition that a child is born with, in this case deafness. In the past most congenitally deaf children are not diagnosed as being deaf until they are eighteen months old and failing to learn to speak. In many cases this means that important stages of development have already been lost.
Cued Speech
A method of communication that combines speech reading with a system of hand shapes placed near the mouth to facilitate lip reading. Some words look similar when spoken such as bunch and punch, whilst other words such as gag are hidden. The hand shapes are not themselves a language; they are intended as a supplement
Cupola
A jelly-like covering of the sensory hairs in the ampullae of the semicircular canals which responds to movement in the surrounding fluid and assists in maintaining balance.
Cycles (per second)
A measurement of frequency otherwise referred to as the pitch of a sound.
Decibel (or dB)
The decibel is the unit of intensity or loudness of sound. It is a tenth of a bel a unit of sound named after Alexander Graham Bell; a change of 1 dB is just detectable as altered loudness under ideal conditions. The human ear/brain registers a threshold of pain at 130dB.
The results of an audiogram are shown as dB (HL), but the line shows the loss at several frequencies. A loss of less than 20 dB is considered to be in the "normal" range. However the range is displayed as a logarithmic scale, a 50 dB loss means you’ve lost a lot more than half of your hearing.
Desiccant (A desiccant (often misspelt and written as "dessicant")
A desiccant is a chemical substance that is capable of holding water. Hearing aids can be damaged by water and a desiccant helps prevent damage. Some are simple and can be dried out and re-used whilst others are complex enough to kill germs in the ear as well. Silica Gel crystals are the most common form of desiccant used to help reduce moisture in hearing aids, and thus help prolong the life of the aid(s). Although care must be taken to remove the battery from the aid before storing the aid in the desiccant, as reducing the moisture in the battery will greatly affect its reliability.
Digital Hearing Aid
A digital hearing aid uses a digital process rather than analogue processing. Digital means that the sound is converted to 1’s and 0’s and processed via computer rather than older and simpler analog process. Despite the fact that digital hearing aids are expensive they are the technology of the future. Digital hearing aids offer speech enhancement, noise reduction and feedback elimination. However it is worth bearing in mind that some types of analogue hearing aids are superior for some types of hearing loss.
Direct Audio Input (DAI)
DAI is a feature of some behind the ear hearing aids which allows an external source of sound such as a television, CD player to be directly connected as an input that bypasses the microphone, and is then directly imputed into the hearing aid.
Directional Hearing
The shape of the pinna the outer ear helps us to decide where sound is coming from, but it is what the cochlea and brain do with information that is crucial. It means that we can suppress noise that we do not think is important to hear.
Directional Microphone
Some microphones are omni directional, which means that they are designed to hear from all directions, whilst others are more sensitive in certain directions. Directional microphones can be a big advantage when a microphone is used in a hearing aid or in an Assistive Listening Device (ALD); because it can be used to be more selective and enhance sound that you want to hear more than other sounds. It can help to differentiate between speech and background noise, and thus increase speech and reduce background noise.
Even a single microphone can be made directional because it can have built in ports on both sides of the sensor. Sounds entering from both sides of the sensor will cancel each other out, and this is more likely to be background noise. On the other hand the sounds coming from in front of the sensor, which is more likely to be speech, will not be cancelled out. If the single microphone has multiple ports then these can utilise a time delay to enhance the cancellation of sound from certain directions.
Multiple microphones can carry out a more sophisticated job, as they are capable of working together to decide what sounds need to be filtered out, and when hearing aids have two or three microphones they are very effective at reducing background noise. Behind the ear hearing aids are more likely to have these multiple microphone features. Only the larger in the ear hearing devices are capable of having more than two microphones.
Dizziness
A physical unsteadiness, imbalance, and lightheadedness associated with balance disorders. Sometimes confused with rotary vertigo, both of which would need to be investigated by a medical practitioner prior to the fitting of any hearing correction.
Dysarthria
A group of speech disorders caused by disturbances in the strength or co-ordination of the muscles of the speech mechanism as a result of damage to the brain or nerves.
Dysequilibrium
Any disturbance of balance.
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia in speech is a neurological disorder and it means that the sufferer cannot carry out co-coordinated acts. It means that the person who has it cannot always consistently pronounce certain words.
Eardrum
The eardrum is a thin membrane at the end of your ear canal; the correct terminology is the tympanic membrane. The tympanic membrane seals the ear canal to form a cul de sac, and because of this it requires a special process in which to clean itself and remove any dead skin particles. This cleaning process is known as the “migratory process”.
Ear Infection
When viruses and bacteria grow in the ear they create an ear infection. An ear infection can be at either side of the ear drum, and is usually treated medically by way of anti-biotics prescribed by a medical practitioner.
Ear Mould
The Ear Mould is a piece of plastic or other soft material molded exactly to the shape of the ear and its use is to deliver the sound from a behind the ear hearing aid into the ear canal and direct the sound towards the tympanic membrane. It is important that it is a precise fit or the benefits of the hearing aid may be lost. . An impression has to be made of the ear canal and the outer ear to ensure that it fits properly. Ear moulds in some countries are made as a distinct feature, a modern design. Trend in the UK is to make them as discreet as possible, however in other countries they make them very obvious, by being brightly decorated, and some even have jewels in them.
Ear Wax (Medically known as cerumen)
A yellowish waxy secretion from glands in the outer ear, it keeps the skin of the ear dry and protects it from infection. It normally excretes itself but under certain conditions it can be trapped against the eardrum by a hearing aid. When this happens it can make the hearing loss appear more severe, but it is easily removed in most cases by syringing. The cerumen is normally self-cleaning, and it can become a problem when things such as Q-tips or cotton buds are pushed into the ears, it causes the earwax to be pushed against the eardrum and trapped.
Electronystagmography (ENG)
Electronystagmography is a series of tests that an audiologist can use to measure a patient’s vestibular or balance function based on involuntary eye movements.
Endolymph
Endolymph fluid is present in the labyrinth, which is the organ of balance located in the inner ear that consists of three semicircular canals and the vestibule.
Enlarged vestibular aqueducts
(EVA) - Vestibular aqueducts are narrow, bony canals that travel from the inner ear to inside the skull. A vestibular aqueduct is often considered enlarged if it is greater than 1.5 millimetres in size. Research suggests that most children with EVA will develop some degree of hearing loss.
Eustachian tube
The Eustachian tubes are empty spaces running from your middle ear behind your eardrums down to the back of the throat. The three tiny bones of your middle ear transmit the vibrations of your eardrum across the empty space at the top of your Eustachian tubes to the cochlea, or inner ear. They equalize the pressure on both sides of the eardrum, and when this cannot occur because they are blocked then pain usually occurs. This is due to the fact that equilibrium is not maintained and the pressure difference causes displacement of the eardrum. The Eustachian tubes are also susceptible to retaining fluid, which results in an impaired ability to hear and possibly also painful infections.
Frequency
Anything that oscillates or sways has a speed, and this speed is measured in the number of cycles per second, it is called a Hertz, written as Hz. This number of Hz is what is known as a frequency. Sound is an oscillating wave, with a broad spectrum of frequencies. A low frequency sound represented by a low number of Hz (e.g. 50Hz) has a low rumble, while a high frequency sound of say 12,000 Hz might sound more like a "sizzle" or “whistle”. The normal hearing frequency range for humans is 20Hz to 20,000Hz.
When sound is referred to as waves these waves are compressed waves. When a sound is made the air is compressed in waves and these waves emanate from the source of the sound in all directions. When these waves of compressed air hit your eardrum, it vibrates in sympathy with them, and this is the first stage of hearing.
Each successive compression is called a rarification and the shorter the distance travelled in the incoming sound wave, the higher the frequency that is measured. This distance traveled is a wavelength and if a sound travels at a speed of 750 miles per hour, the compression waves between 100 Hz and 20,000 Hz have wavelengths that range between several feet for the 100Hz sound to a fraction of an inch for the 20,000Hz sound.
Speech also has a range of frequencies, but it is mostly limited to the range between 100Hz and 8,000Hz. The frequencies that make up the vowel sounds are normally lower frequencies, whilst the consonant sounds tend to be higher frequency sounds. People with even moderately good hearing up to about 3,000Hz can understand speech fairly well. Wired telephones typically do not transmit sound above 3,500Hz.
When people have a hearing loss, they usually have less ability to hear some frequencies than to hear other frequencies. This creates a distortion that can make it difficult to understand speech. Usually, people with hearing loss have poorer hearing in high frequencies than in low frequencies, but some people may lose lower frequencies, or even middle frequencies, while having less loss in other frequencies.
Hearing aids now have the ability to be tuned to amplify different frequencies by differing amounts, so that it fills in where you need the amplification without giving you too much sound in frequencies where you hear better.
Hair Cells
These are the sensory cells of the inner ear, so called because they are topped with hair-like structures, called stereocilia, which transform the mechanical energy of sound waves into nerve impulses for the brain. The hair cells are not composed of hair but they are named hair cells because they respond exactly as hairs would. Lack of these cells is a major cause of loss of hearing some animals can regenerate these hairs, but humans cannot.
Hard of Hearing (HoH)
Hard of Hearing (HoH) refers to a person that cannot hear well, they may have been born with the condition or it may have developed later in life. Many people suffer from this condition and are not aware of it. Some choose to deny it. It is estimated that nearly 10% of the population are hard of hearing. Yet the majority of these people would be greatly assisted by hearing aids or assistive listening devices. With help speech can remain their primary method of communication. It is a fallacy to believe that it is only the elderly who suffer from this condition. Many babies, toddlers, young children and young adults have the problem.
Hearing
Hearing is one of the five senses. Hearing is the perception of sound and occurs when the sound waves in the air are converted to electrical signals, which have to be converted to nerve impulses so that the brain can interpret them and perceive them as sound.
Hearing Aid
An electronic device that brings amplified sound to the ear. A hearing aid usually consists of a microphone, amplifier, and receiver. During the last half of the 20th century, dramatic improvements have made hearing aids more powerful, adaptable, smaller, and generally more effective than earlier models. They are not capable of returning your hearing to normal but they have the ability to dramatically improve your quality of life.
Hearing Assistance Technology (HAT)
There are many types of assistance beyond hearing aids for the hard of hearing; they include alarm clocks, smoke detectors, vibrating watches/ clocks, loop systems, flashing light devices, etc.
Hearing Disorder
A disruption in the normal hearing process that may occur in outer, middle, or inner ear, whereby sound waves are not converted to electrical signals and nerve impulses are not transmitted to the brain to be interpreted.
Hearing Impaired
"Hearing Impaired" is a technically accurate description of someone who is hard of hearing or who has no hearing. However it is often considered in poor taste and not politically correct to define someone primarily by his or her inability to hear, and many people have no desire to be labeled impaired.
Hyperacusis
Over sensitivity to sound.
Impedance Audiometry
A test for measuring the ability to hear sound waves transmitted through bone.
Inner Ear
The part of the ear that contains the organ of hearing, known as the cochlea, the organ of balance, known as the labyrinth, and the auditory nerve. The majority of cases of hearing loss are as a result of problems in the inner ear. The correct term is sensorineural hearing loss and it accounts for approximately ninety percent of hearing deficiencies.
Labyrinth
The labyrinth consists of three semicircular canals and the vestibule and it is the organ of balance in the middle ear.
Labyrinthine Hydrops (Endolymphatic Hydrops)
Excessive fluid in the organ of balance can cause pressure or fullness in the ears, which results in hearing loss, dizziness, and loss of balance.
Labyrinthitis
Labyrinthitis is a viral or bacterial infection that can cause inflammation of the inner ear, often resulting in dizziness, loss of balance, and temporary hearing loss.
Language
A system for communicating ideas and feelings using sounds, gestures, signs, or marks.
Linguistics
An articulation made by the vocal apparatus, which is described as a vowel sound, which is distinctive, even though bear and bare have the same sound.
Localisation
Is the ability to know where sound is coming from because the brain hears from both ears it can "triangulate" and determine where the source of the sound is. Because your ears are apart there is an extremely short time lapse between the ears receiving the sound. If the sound is directly in front or directly behind you then it is heard in both ears equally. We are only talking a millisecond, but in that time the brain can get your cochlea to attune to sounds from certain directions. That means you can hone in and focus on speech for instance even when the background noise is overwhelming and you cannot understand the words that you are hearing. Localization is achieved when both ears are similar in hearing levels, hence no difference in hearing ability in either ear.
Mastoid bone
This is the rear portion of the temporal bone and contains the inner ear, sometimes can become infected and would need medical treatment or possibly even surgery.
Ménière’s Disease
This is an inner ear disorder that can affect both hearing and balance. It may cause rotary vertigo, hearing loss, tinnitus, and the sensation of fullness in the ear.
Middle Ear
This is an air filled cavity that contains the eardrum, the three tiny bones, known as the ossicles, and ends at the round window which leads to the inner ear.
Mumbling
Mumbling is an activity that someone who is hard of hearing suspects everyone of doing. They are probably not, and you should get your hearing checked by an audiologist.
Neural Prostheses
A device that acts as a substitute for an injured or diseased part of the nervous system, sometimes a cochlea implant is possible.
Neural Stimulation
This process is to activate or energize a nerve through an external source.
Neurogenic Communication Disorder
This disorder is the inability to exchange information with others because of hearing, speech, and/or language problems caused by impairment of the nervous system (brain or nerves).
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)
Hearing loss caused by exposure to very loud impulse sound or repeated exposure to sounds over 90-decibel level over an extended period of time. The prolonged exposure to noise damages the sensitive structures of the inner ear, and this damage is irreversible.
Noise suppression
This is a facility built into the hearing aid that enables the wearer to use the aid in variable environments and still maintain comfort. The aid is capable of reducing excessive noise and this comes in many different forms.
Nonsyndromic Hereditary Hearing Impairment
A hearing loss or deafness that is inherited and is not associated with other inherited clinical characteristics.
Occlusion
Occlusion means "blockage" and specifically refers to that "in a drum" feeling you get when your hearing aid or ear mould has plugged up your ear canal. It’s not a feature of the hearing aid electronics, but simply a result of having something in your ear canal that prevents normal airflow. It is normally solved by having a vent hole in your hearing aid or in the ear mould that allows the air to circulate in your ear canal. However it is not always that simple because if you need a lot of amplification of sound there will be a tendency for the aid to feedback if the vent is too large. An advantage of some digital hearing aids is that a bigger vent does not always increase the feedback, as most of them have some form of feedback management system.
Some canal aids are so small (partly because your ear canal might be so small) that a vent is not possible. That’s one of many reasons why a BTE might be a better solution for people with losses that require a lot of gain, since the ear mould will have more space for the installation of a vent.
Organ of Corti
The spiral structure that looks like a snail within the cochlea it contains the hair cells, which convert the vibrations representing sound into nerve impulses.
Ossification
Ossification means "bone formation" and can cause the three tiny bones in your middle ear not to transmit and amplify the sound correctly.
Oscillates
To move or sway back and forth between fixed limits like a pendulum on a clock.
Otitis-Externa
An infection of the outer ear, usually results in inflammation of the outer part of the ear extending to the auditory canal.
Otitis Media
An infection within the middle ear, behind the ear drum, otherwise known as the tympanic membrane, usually results in inflammation of the middle ear and the production of a mucous fluid.
Oto-acoustic Emissions
Low-intensity sounds produced by the inner ear that can be accurately measured with a sensitive microphone placed in the ear canal.
Otologist
This is a specialist in diseases of the ear.
Otosclerosis
This is an abnormal growth of bone within the middle ear usually occurs around the footplate of the stapes, otherwise known as the stirrup. This bone prevents structures within the ear from working properly and causes mild to severe hearing loss.
Outer Ear
The outer ear is the external portion of the ear, consisting of the pinna, or auricle, and the ear canal, the part of the ear visible to the naked eye. It has a directional function in that it can assist the collection of sound from in front of you.
Perception (Hearing)
This is the process of knowing or being aware of information through the ear.
Postlingually Deafened
Individual who becomes deaf after having acquired the ability of language.
Prelingually Deafened
This is when an individual is either born deaf or has lost his or her hearing early in childhood, before learning to speak.
Presbycusis
The loss of hearing that gradually occurs because of changes in the inner or middle ear in individuals as they grow older. Age in itself does not induce a hearing loss, one in three people over sixty five would benefit from a hearing aid. However the number of people who are younger and have a hearing problem is far greater.
Round Window
This is the membrane separating the middle ear and inner ear.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
The cause of the majority of cases of hearing loss caused by damage to the sensory cells and or the nerve fibres in the inner ear.
Sound
Sound is a longitudinal wave or a disturbance of mechanical energy that travels through matter such as gases or liquids, it is what can be heard when an object vibrates. Sound waves demonstrate several properties, frequency, amplification, wavelength, period, and speed. Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the range of between 20 to 20,000 hertz, which is the range that can be detected as sound by the human ear. Sound itself has a wider range than that of humans; certain high and low frequencies cannot be heard by humans, but fall within the range of animal hearing.
Speech
This is a form spoken communication.
Speech Processor
This is part of a cochlear implant that converts speech sounds into electrical impulses to stimulate the auditory nerve, allowing an individual to understand sound and speech.
Sudden Deafness
A loss of hearing that occurs quickly due to such causes as explosion, a viral infection, or the use of some drugs.
Tinnitus
This is a sensation of a ringing, roaring, or buzzing sound in the ears or head. It is often associated with many forms of hearing impairment and noise exposure. One of the most common problems of the inability to hear, is perversely you clearly hear sounds that are not there. The sound may be constant or may vary depending on circumstances, for some a hearing aid can lessen the impact. Some drugs may cause temporary or even permanent tinnitus.
Tympanoplasty
This is a surgical repair of the eardrum also known as the tympanic membrane, or the bones of the middle ear.
Usher Syndrome
This is a hereditary disease that affects hearing and vision and sometimes balance.
Vertigo
This is an illusion of movement; and a sensation as if the external world were revolving around an individual (objective vertigo) or as if the individual were revolving in space (subjective vertigo).
Vestibular Neuronitis
This is an infection at the vestibular nerve.
Vestibular System
This is responsible for maintaining balance, posture, and the body’s orientation in space. This system also regulates locomotion and other movements and keeps objects in visual focus as the body moves.
Vestibule
This is the bony cavity of the inner ear.
Waardenburg Syndrome
Hereditary disorder that is characterized by hearing impairment, a white shock of hair and/or a distinctive blue colour to one or both eyes, and wide-set inner corners of the eyes. Balance problems are also associated with some types of Waardenburg syndrome.
Wax Glands
The wax glands are at the base of tiny hairs deep in your ear canal and they produce the earwax, which trap the small particles and carry them out of the ear.