ABC (Auditory Brainstem Response Audiometry)
A hearing test in which a person's ability to hear is measured by comparing brain waves at rest and those when sounds are induced.

ADA: see Americans with Disabilities Act

Alerting Device:  Visual or tactile device to alert a person who cannot hear to knocks at the door, telephone rings, fire alarms, etc.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA):  Public Law 101-336 prohibits discrimination in access and employment on the basis of disability by private entities (with qualifications).

American Sign Language (ASL):  A visible language with a unique grammar and syntax using hands, body and facial expression.  Preferred means of communication by people who identify themselves with Deaf Culture.

Amplified Phone:  Telephone equipped with volume control on the handset.  Public coin-operated phones may have a volume control button on the wall unit.

Assistive Listening Device (ALD):  Technical tool to assist hard of hearing people with or without a hearing aid, bringing the speaker's voice directly to the listener's ear.  Helps to overcome the problems of distance and surrounding noise.

Audiogram: A graph which is used by the audiologist to record a person's ability to hear different pitches.

Audiologist: A specialist in testing and evaluating hearing and providing rehabilitation for hearing loss.  Hearing aids and assistive devices may be sold by this individual.

Audio Loop:  Uses electromagnetic waves for transmission of sound from an amplifier through a wire loop area.  Sound waves may also be transmitted to a loop worn around a listeners neck, broadcasting to a telecoil that serves as a receiver.  Hearing aids which do not have a T-switch can use a an induction receiver in a set of headphones to pick up the sound.

Auxiliary Aids and Services:  aids and services, such as assistive listening devices, notetakers, captioning and interpreters which help overcome communication barriers.

Captioning: Text display of spoken dialogue and sounds on TV, film, or videos. Closed captioning is hidden until activated by a caption decoder or TV with a built-in decoder chip. 

Cochlear Inplant: A surgically planted electronic device that allows people with profound hearing loss to hear environmental sounds, improve speech reading, monitor their voice, and often understand voices.

Communication Access:  Accommodations that provide an environment where persons with hearing loss or deafness can communicate.

Compatible Telephone:  generates a magnetic field that can be picked up by turning on a T-switch (Telecoil switch) to activate the telecoil in a hearing aid.  All telephones manufactured in the U. S. after 1989 should be hearing aid compatible pursuant to the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988.

CART (Computer Aided Realtime Translation):  A realtime speech-to-text system similar to that used by a court reporter on which the exact words of a speaker are keyed into a system which then displays or projects the words onto a monitor or screen to be read by the audience.

CAN (Computer-Assisted Notetaking):  Visual display of a speaker's message on a projection screen or monitor cabled to a laptop computer or other input device.  The accuracy and detail of the text depends on the speed and skill of the operator, who may utilize abbreviations or paraphrasing.

Cerumen: Earwax

Conductive hearing loss: A hearing loss is caused by damaged to the outer or middle ear and often can be corrected surgically or medically. 

Cued Speech: A sound-based visual communication system which in English uses eight hand shapes in four different locations in combination with the natural mouth movements of speech, to make all the sounds of spoken language look different.

Deaf: Describes people who have no useful residual hearing.  Based on the age at the time of deafness, people who are deaf are included on one of two groups: congenitally deaf (born deaf) or adventitiously deaf (deaf due to illness, accident or other condition).  Adventitiously deaf people may be prelingually deaf (deafened in infancy before acquiring functional speech), or a late-deafened adult.  People who are born deaf or become deaf early in life generally employ sign language as their primary mode of communication.  They may also used cued speech, speechreading, or other assistive technology to communicate.

Deaf Culture: Deaf people's lives are defined by what they see and not hear.  Their language is visible and their values are all devoted to the preservation of what makes it visible ...their eyes and hands make a bright environment and no obstacles in the way of being able to see.  Deaf people enjoy a shared history, jokes, and morals which makes a culture.  Their culture is learned through Deaf Clubs, schools, and a life time of interpreting what is seen.

Decibel (dB):  Unit of measurement of the intensity of a sound wave.  Sounds of 0-20 dB are heard by normal ears.

Effective communication:  Standard for access for people with hearing  Under the ADA, a public accommodation must provide an auxiliary aid or service where necessary to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities.  Consultation with individuals needing accommodation is encouraged before services are provided.

Email: Electronic mail, where messages are sent and received electronically; used by computers

Finger-Spelling: see Manual Alphabet

FM transmitter:  a device which broadcasts a signal by radio waves from the sound source to a receiver worn by the listener.  Sound may be transmitted over a several hundred feet and can pass through physical obstructions.

Hard of Hearing:  Describes people with any degree of hearing loss with some amount of useful residual hearing which enables them to understand some speech with or without use of hearing aids.  Hard of hearing people are generally oralists (use their voices), and participate in society by using residual hearing plus hearing aids, speechreading and assistive technology to aid communication.

Hearing Aid:  An amplification device to assist persons with hearing loss.  Different kinds include in-the-ear (ITE), in the canal (ITC), behind the ear (BTE), or on the body.  Hearing aids assist hearing, but do not correct hearing loss.

Hearing Dog: A dog that has completed training to alert the person with hearing loss of the sounds around them.

Hearing Impaired:  Generic term used to describe persons with hearing loss.

Infrared: Transmission system similar to FM except that it uses invisible light waves to transmit sound.  Frequently used in theatres or in situations where confidentiality is important, as it does not pass through physical barriers.

International Symbol of Access for hearing Loss:  symbol used to denote communication access, representing hearing loss in a general way.

Interpreter-Oral: Interpreter who mouths the words of a speaker so they are visible on the lips.  Used when the listener uses speechreading to understand conversation.

Interpreter-Sign Language:  Interpreter who uses visible movements of hands, body and face to replace the vocal elements of a spoken language.  Sign language interpreters may employ American Sign Language, signed English, signed Pidgin or other variety that uses features from ASL and English.

Lipreading: see Speechreading.

Manual Alphabet:  Positions of the hand and fingers representing the letters of the alphabet used for rudimentary communication or for spelling or clarifying words for which there is no sign.

Meniere's Disease: A disease of the labyrinth of the ear, and the following symptoms can occur loss of hearing ,ringing in the ears, and dizziness.

Notetaking: writing of key words or phrases on a blackboard, overhead projector, notebook, etc. to enhance the understanding of a person with hearing loss. see Computer Assisted Notetaking.

Oralist:  Deaf or hard of hearing person who prefers to use his or her own voice and generally prefers speechreading or cued speech as primary means of communication and participating in society.

Otolaryngologist: A medical doctor who specializes in the problems of the ear and throat.

Relay Service:  Service that enables TTY users to communicate with non TTY users by way of a communication assistant.  Special phone number  are used to reach the communication assistant. Every state in the U.S. has a relay service

Residual hearing: The hearing that remains after hearing loss occurs.

Sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness): A type of hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear, auditory nerve, or auditory cortex of the brain. It is permanent.  Individual make use of hearing aids.  Those with profound losses may be a candidate for the cochlear implant.

Sign Language:  Means of communication using hand motion, facial expression and body movement.  Different kinds of sign language include American Sign Language, Signed English, and Signed Pidgin.  All sign languages may reflect regional preferences or differences in signs used, much as spoken language has regional differences.

Speech reading:  Watching the lips, face and body movements to understand what is being said.

Tinnitus: It is ringing, buzzing, roaring in the ear.  It can be caused by different reasons.

T-Switch: A setting on a hearing aid equipped with a Telecoil that can be used with a hearing-aid-compatible telephone, assistive listening device, and audio loop system.

TDD: Telecommunications Device for the Deaf.  No longer the preferred terminology. see TTY.

TTY: A telecommunications device consisting of a typewriter-like keyboard input unit for sending text and a digital screen which displays incoming conversation in text.  TTY's use regular telephone lines and may be used by people who cannot hear on a regular telephone or who have a speech disability preventing them from speaking into a regular telephone.

Videotext Display: see Computer Aided Realtime Translation.

Visual Alarm Signal:  A flashing light giving notice that an audible event has occurred, such as  a doorbell ringing, fire alarm, or ringing telephone.  Some systems monitor a single event, others can monitor several events and indicate which has occurred.

Volume Control Telephone:  see Amplified Phone.