Key Terms Glossary

Key Terms Glossary 

A

American Sign Language: A visual language, ASL has its own unique vocabulary and grammar. The five factors of sign include handshape, palm direction, movement, location, and expression.    

Amplification: Hearing aids and other devices increase loudness of sounds making them easier to understand and receive.

Annual Evaluation: A meeting conducted on a yearly basis to assess the Individualized Family Service Plan (ISFP) or Individualized Education Program (IEP) for a child and revise if needed. 

Assistive Communication Devices: Devices offered to help people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing improve communication.    

Audiological Assessment/Evaluation: A collection of hearing tests that show if hearing thresholds are in the mild, moderate, severe, or profound range. Speech tests find the patient's speech reception threshold. 

Audiologist: A professional who assesses and manages hearing and balance in people of all ages.  

Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR): A hearing screening in which equipment is used to introduce the sound of clicks into the ear canal. An electroencephalographic (EEG) response is measured from electrodes placed on the scalp. The waveforms are measured to determine a pass or refer result. Also known as the Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) or Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER).  

Auditory nerve: This nerve carries electrical signals from the cochlea in the inner ear to the brain. Also known as the hearing nerve.

Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Dyssynchrony: A hearing diagnosis concerning the cochlea. The cochlea appears to receive sound typically yet the signals leaving the cochlea are disorganized, indicating that the cochlea or hearing nerve are not processing sounds typically.    

Auditory-Oral: A program that uses oral and auditory stimuli for individuals who are D/deaf or hard of hearing. The individual needs more stimuli to help them because only auditory input is not sufficient. The individual uses lip reading and gestures to help them understand and use spoken language. This program includes blocks such as natural gestures, listening, speech (lip) reading, and speech.

Auditory-Verbal: A program that individuals who are D/deaf or hard of hearing use that involves listening skills. Individuals use a device to make sounds they hear louder through a device such as a hearing aid. Individuals can also use cochlear implants which make sounds louder through electrical stimulation. This program focuses on auditory input and includes building blocks such as listening and speech. 

Auditory Training/Listening: Many children who are D/deaf or hard of hearing have some amount of hearing. Some parents of a child with residual hearing may choose to use a building block called listening (auditory training). The building block is often used together with assistive devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants. 

B

Bilateral Hearing: Hearing that uses both ears.

Building Blocks: Types of skills that parents use to help their child learn language. There are many types of building blocks, and a family can pick and choose the building block (or blocks) that work best for their child and family

C

Coaching: A conversational activity that aims to support people to learn and develop, thereby enhancing their ability to achieve more of their untapped potential.  

Cochlea: A winding, cone shaped tube that forms a portion of the inner ear that connects to the auditory nerve,

Cochlear Implant: A surgically implanted device that stimulates the cochlea of the inner ear which sends sound signals directly to the hearing (auditory) nerve.   

Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE): A building block that people who are D/deaf and hard of hearing and people who are hearing use together to communicate. American Sign Language and manually coded English are blended together. CASE is flexible and can be changed depending on the people using it.

Conductive Hearing Loss:  A type of hearing loss/thresholds due to sound waves not reaching the inner ear through the typical air conduction channels of the outer and middle ear.  

Confidentiality: The right that personal information about children and family is not released without parent consent or only when permitted or required by law.  

Consent: The approval a parent or guardian gives to a program or municipality, generally in writing. Consent is always optional and can be taken back at any time.  

Cued Speech: Many speech sounds look the same on the face even though the sounds are different. For instance, the words “mat”, “bat”, and “pat” look the same on the lips and mouth. The person communicating uses handshapes and hand location near the mouth to help the person looking tell the difference between speech sounds.

D

Deaf Mentor: D/deaf and hard of hearing role models who are uniquely qualified to provide the child, parents, and professionals with a positive outlook from their day-to-day, real-life expression as a D/deaf or hard of hearing person living in a hearing world.  

Decibel: A unit used to measure the loudness of a sound or the power level of an electrical signal.   

Due Process: Procedures designed to protect a person’s rights. This includes requirements for confidentiality, consent, and process to resolve disagreements and file complaints. 

E

Early Intervention: A collection of services provided by public and private agencies and designed by law to support eligible children and their families in enhancing a child’s potential growth and development from birth to age three.  

Early Intervention Services: Services provided by qualified personnel that meet the needs of the child and family as described in the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). May include speech therapy, physical therapy, deaf educators, language teachers, and other types of services based on the needs of the child and family

Earmold:  A plastic or silicone piece that is made to fit to a child’s ear. The earmold has a short tube that is attached to the part of the hearing aid that sits behind the child’s ear. It sends sound from the hearing aid into the ear.

Electroencephalogram (EEG): A non-invasive test that measures electrical activity in the brain using small, metal discs (electrodes) attached to the scalp. Brain cells communicate through electrical impulses and are active all the time this activity is shown as lines on an EEG recording.  

F

Family Training: D/deaf and hard of hearing role models who are uniquely qualified to provide the child, parents, and professionals with a positive outlook from their day-to-day, real-life expression as a D/deaf or hard of hearing person living in a hearing world.  

Fingerspelling: The process of spelling out words using hand shapes that correspond to letters of a writing system, often used in sign languages like American Sign Language (ASL).

FM System: A FM system is like a tiny radio station with its own frequency. It has two parts. One part is a microphone that the speaker wears. The microphone sends a signal to a receiver, which are worn on or are part of the hearing aid. 

H

I

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): A law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - Part B: Provides free and appropriate public education and education related services with all school age children ages three to twenty-one with disabilities.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - Part C: Establishes the early intervention program for eligible infants and toddlers birth through age two and their families. 

Individual Education Plan (IEP): A plan or program developed to ensure that a child with an identified need who is attending elementary or secondary education institution receives specialized instruction and related services. It is reviewed and revised in accordance with the IDEA and state guidelines and specifies the special education and related services necessary to meet the child’s needs. The IEP is developed by a team of individuals from various educational disciplines, the child, family members, and/or designated advocates.  

Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP):  A service and a program that is provided if a child is eligible for early intervention services.  A service coordinator will help set up and schedule services including speech and language therapy, physical or occupational therapy, and home visits.    

Inner ear:  The inner ear is made up of the snail-shaped organ for hearing (called the cochlea) and the nerves that go to the brain.

L

Lip Reading: ​A building block that helps a child with certain hearing levels understand speech. The child watches the movement of a speaker’s mouth and face to understand what the speaker is saying. About 40% of the sounds in the English language can be seen on the lips of a speaker in good conditions- such as a well lit room where the child can see the speaker’s face.    

Listening Fatigue: ​The concept that listeners with hearing thresholds in the mild, moderate, and serve range must use more brain power to understand communication than listeners with typical hearing thresholds.    

M

Manually Coded English (MCE): Signs that are a visual code that stand for the words of the English language. Many of the signs in MCE are borrowed from American Sign Language (ASL) but, unlike ASL, the grammar, word order, and sentence structure of MCE are similar to the English language.

Middle Ear: The middle ear is made up of the eardrum and three small bones (ossicles) that send the movement of the eardrum in the inner ear.

Mild Hearing Loss/Levels: A hearing diagnosis that is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing level components.  

Moderate Hearing Loss/Levels: Describes a hearing range between 41 to 55 dB HL. For example, this individual will not be able to hear people working in a quiet office, rain falling, or coffee brewing.  

N

Natural Gestures: Actions that parents typically do to help children undertsand a message.

Natural Learning Environments Practices: Using activities that children participate in during everyday life at home and the community to assist learning. Providing learning opportunities which lead to increased participation and skill development for children.  

Non-invasive: Any medical test or treatment that does not cut the skin or enter any of the body spaces.

Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE): A hearing test that uses a microphone placed in the ear canal to measure sound waves generated in the cochlea in response to clicks or tone bursts.    

Otolaryngologist: A doctor with special training in medical and surgical treatment for patients who have a diagnosis pertaining to the ear, nose, and throat.    

O

Occupational Therapist: A healthcare provider who helps their patients improve their ability to perform daily tasks. They work with their patients to identify challenges, develop goals, and come up with ways to help them meet the objectives.

Occupational Therapist: A healthcare provider who helps their patients improve their ability to perform daily tasks. They work with their patients to identify challenges, develop goals, and come up with ways to help them meet the objectives.

Ossicles: The chain of three tiny bones, the malleus, incus, and stapes in the middle ear.

Oticon: A provider of hearing aids.

Otitis media: A middle ear infection. Children with recurring ear infections may experience fluctuating hearing levels and may be at risk for speech and language delays.

Otoacoustic emissions (OAE): A hearing test that uses a microphone placed in the ear canal to measure sound waves generated in the cochlea in response to clicks or tone bursts. 

Otolaryngologists: A doctor with special training in medical and surgical treatment for patients who have a diagnosis pertaining to the ear, nose, and throat.

Outer Ear: The outer ear is made up of the parts we see (pinna), the ear canal, and the eardrum (tympanic membrane).