Glossary

This section is intended to provide readers with clear definitions and descriptions of terms used in the education of children who are deaf/hard of hearing.

504 PLAN: Eligibility for Section 504 is based on an individual having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity. If a student has a hearing loss which limits communication but does not require specially designed instruction or relative service, the student is eligible for of service in general education classrooms and programs under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Provisions in how a student accesses information and demonstrates learning that do not substantially change the instructional level, content, and/or performance criteria. The changes are made in order to provide a student equal access to learning and an equal opportunity to demonstrate what is known.

ACOUSTIC IMMITTANCE MEASURES: An auditory function test to help determine the integrity of the middle ear and a portion of the adjacent auditory nerve. Measurements may include tympanometry (middle ear mobility measures) and acoustic reflex thresholds and decay.

ACOUSTIC ROOM TREATMENT: the use of sound-absorbing materials (such as carpet and acoustical tile) to reduce ambient room noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio, thus enhancing the usefulness of hearing aids, cochlear Implants and other amplification.

ACOUSTICS: Pertaining to sound, the sense of hearing, or the science of sound.

ADVOCACY: The role parents/guardians, family members, and support groups play in promoting and monitoring developmental and educational programs and services for children. Advocacy includes understanding pertinent laws and regulations and actively participating in the decision-making process to ensure that services are delivered in line with the goals for the child’s development and education.

AIR CONDUCTION: Term used to describe the pathway of sound to the ear. In air conduction, the sound travels via the outer and middle ear systems to the inner ear. During air conduction testing, sounds are presented through calibrated speakers (i.e. in the sound field) or via earphones/ear inserts.

AMBIENT NOISE: Background noise that competes with the main speech signal.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ASL): a visual-spatial language used in the United States and Canada. Linguistic information is conveyed by the movement of hands and non-manual signals, received through the eyes, and processed in the language areas of the brain. ASL has its own rules of grammar, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics

AMPLIFICATION: the use of hearing aids and other electronic devices to increase the loudness of sound

ASSISITIVE DEVICES (ALDs): all types of electronic hearing aids, including personal aids, FM systems, infrared systems, special input devices for telephone or television, amplified alarms and signals, etc.

AUDIOGRAM: the graph on which a person’s thresholds (loudness level at which a person just perceives a sound) is plotted for different frequencies (pitches)

AUDIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT: A battery of hearing tests comprised of determining pure-tone air and bone conduction thresholds, acoustic emittance, and speech detection and recognition measurements to define the type and degree of hearing loss.

AUDIOLOGIST: A health-care professional who specializes in the measurement and management of auditory (hearing) and vestibular (balance) function. Audiologists hold a degree in audiology and typically hold certification through either the American Board of Audiology (ABA) or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

AUDITORY/ORAL: a communication methodology that encourages children to make use of the hearing they have (residual hearing) through the use of appropriate technology (e.g., hearing aids, cochlear implants, FM systems) and therapeutic intervention. In this approach, children are taught to listen and speak

AUDITORY NEUROPATHY SPECTRUM DISORDER (ANSD): a variety of hearing loss in which the outer hair cells within the cochlea are present and functional, but sound information is not consistently transmitted by the auditory nerve to the brain, resulting in a dyssynchronous signal to the brain.

AUDITORY TRAINING: the process of training a person to use their amplified residual hearing for the recognition, identification, and interpretation of sound

AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION (AAC): 1) The supplementation or replacement of natural speech and/or writing using aided and/or unaided symbols. The use of aided symbols requires a transmission device. 2) The field or area of clinical/educational practice to improve the communication skills of individuals with little or no functional speech. (Lloyd, Fuller, & Arvidson, 1997)

BICULTURAL: belonging to two cultures, such as Deaf culture and hearing culture

BILATERAL vs. UNILATERAL: bilateral hearing loss means both ears are affected; unilateral hearing loss means only one ear is affected.

BILINGUAL: being fluent in two languages; for some deaf children this will include the use of ASL and English.

BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL: being fluent in two languages (ASL and English) and having membership in two cultures (the Deaf and hearing cultures).

BINAURAL HEARING AIDS: Hearing aids worn in both ears.

BONE CONDUCTION: sound received through the vibration of the bones of the skull

C-PRINT: a speech-to-text system developed at the National Technical institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as an access service option for some deaf and hard of hearing students in educational environments; printed text of spoken English is displayed in real time with a meaning for meaning representation of the spoken word.

CAPTIONIST: The person who provides real-time captioning for a student using either C-Print or CART

CART – Communication Access Realtime Translation: instantaneous verbatim (word for word) translation of the spoken word into English text using a stenotype machine, notebook computer and real time software with a display of the text on a laptop computer, monitor or screen.

CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING DIFFICULTIES (CAPD): a condition typically associated with normal hearing levels that affects a person’s ability to decode the sounds they hear. CAPD, however, appears to result from a dysfunction in part of the brain that process sound. ANSD is different from CAPD in that the problem in ANSD is a result of the auditory nerve inconsistently delivering sound to the brain.

CLASSROOM AUDIO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS (CADS): A classroom audio distribution system (CADS), as defined by ASA/ANSI s12.60.2010, American National Standard Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools, Part 1 Permanent Classrooms, is a system whose primary design goal is to electroacoustically distribute the audio portion of spoken communications and curricular content throughout the learning space or targeted listening area. This content may include, but is not limited to, live voice sources from teachers and peers, as well as prerecorded and/or streaming media content from various sources, or both. The systems are not typically designed for public address purposes (such as building-wide announcements) or for the delivery of alert or warning signals, though they may include these capabilities. Classroom audio distribution systems may also include provisions to assist persons with low-amplitude voice levels or those with certain hearing conditions. These systems include classroom and desktop models and may transmit via FM or Infrared technology. CADS generally do not provide sufficient benefit for children/youth with hearing loss and therefore should not be a substitute for personal FM systems. (American Academy of Audiology. (2008). Clinical Practice Guidelines: Remote Microphone Hearing Assistance Technologies for Children and Youth from Birth to 21 Years. Supplement B. (http:// www.audiology.org/resources/documentlibrary/Documents/20110926 HAT GuidelinesSupp B.pdf)

CLEFT PALATE: A gap in the soft palate and/or roof of the mouth, sometimes extending through the upper lip. This problem occurs in-utero when the various parts of the palate do not grow together to make a single hard palate.

CLOSED CAPTION: A translated dialog for television or video in the form of subtitles.

COCHLEAR IMPLANT: an electronic device surgically implanted to stimulate nerve endings in the inner ear (cochlea) in order to receive and process sound signals to send to the brain via the auditory nerve. A cochlear implant is comprised of both internal and external components. The internal component – the actual cochlear implant – is surgically placed by an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist) or an otologist (ear specialist) into the cochlea. The outer equipment consists of a sound processor, cable/coil, and battery. The outer equipment is programmed and monitored with regular visits to an audiologist. A cochlear implant does not restore normal hearing but it can give individuals improved access to sound when compared with hearing aids or other auditory devices.

COGNITION: The process of remembering, reasoning, understanding, problem solving, evaluating, and using judgment.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED REALTIME TRANSCRIPTION (CART): A speech-to-text system using a stenotype machine with a phonetic keyboard and special software. The software translates the phonetic symbols into English captions almost instantaneously.

CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS: caused by a problem in the outer or middle ear; sound has difficulty being “conducted” to the nerves in the inner ear. The amount of loss depends on the nature of the problem that is causing the sound conduction issue.

CONGENITAL HEARING LOSS: a hearing loss that is present at birth or that is associated with the birth process or that develops in the first few days of life.

CRITICAL MASS: The term has been borrowed from the field of physics and is intended to mean a sufficient number of children functioning with the same language, communication mode, or age group, to ensure that appropriate opportunities for social and intellectual interaction occur.

CUED SPEECH: is a phonemic based system which makes traditionally spoken languages accessible by using a small number of handshapes, known as cues, (representing consonants) in different locations near the mouth (representing vowels), as a supplement to speechreading.

DEAF: a cultural, linguistic term that means a person’s communication mode is visually based (either sign language or written English); residual hearing (if any) may be a secondary and supplemental sensory avenue.

DEAF STUDIES: The study of the history, culture, language, and literature of the Deaf and the cross-cultural relationship between the Deaf and hearing communities.

DEAF CULTURE: A view of life manifested by the morals, beliefs, artistic expression, understandings, and language (ASL) particular to Deaf people. A capital “D” is often used in the word Deaf when it refers to community or cultural aspects of deafness.

DEAFBLINDNESS: any combination of documented hearing and vision loss, ranging from mild to profound hearing loss and low vision to total blindness; students should be reported to the Ohio’s Center for Deafblind Education (https://ohiodeafblind.org) for additional services

DECIBEL (dB): the unit of measurement for the loudness of sound; the higher the dB, the louder the sound

DEGREE OF HEARING LOSS: degree of hearing refers to the severity of the hearing loss. Seven categories are typically used. The numerical values are based on the average of the hearing levels at 3 frequencies, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, and 2000 Hz, in the better ear, without amplification. Some people may use slightly smaller or slightly larger numbers for each of the following categories:

• Normal range = -10 to 15 dB
• Slight Loss/Minimal loss = 16 to 25 dB
• Mild Loss = 26 to 40 dB
• Moderate loss = 41 to 55 dB
• Moderate/severe loss = 56 to 70 dB
• Severe loss = 71 to 90 dB
• Profound loss = 91 dB or more (www.ASHA.org)

EARMOLD: a custom-made acrylic, vinyl or silicone piece that fits into the outer ear to send sound from a hearing aid into the ear.

EDUCATIONAL AUDIOLOGIST: An audiologist who specializes in the practice of audiology in the educational setting with emphasis on the implications of hearing loss for listening and learning and accommodations such as hearing assistive technology to effectively manage communication access. Specific responsibilities are defined in IDEA Part C [34CFR303.13(b)(2)] and Part B [34CFR300.34(c)(1)].

EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETER: A professional member of the educational team, fluent in the languages used by deaf and hearing persons, who works with the team to implement the IEP. The educational interpreter uses sign language/communication systems and spoken languages in school settings for purposes of providing access to the general curriculum, classroom dynamics, extracurricular activities and social interactions. This team member must document appropriate academic training, demonstrate the interpreting competencies and knowledge sets necessary to provide quality interpreting services in schools and be appropriately credentialed through state and/or national evaluations systems.

ELIGIBILITY: A child must be determined eligible for special education services based on a specific disabling conditions and evidence of an adverse effect of that condition on educational performance.

ENGLISH SIGN SYSTEMS: Sign systems designed for educational purposes, which use manual signs in an English word order. Some of the signs are based on American Sign Language and others have been invented to represent elements of English visually. Signing Exact English and Seeing Essential English are two examples of invented systems

ETIOLOGY: The cause or origin of a specific disease or condition.

FINGERSPELLING: manual representation of the alphabet by finger positions, in order to spell out words or longer strings of language.

FLUCTUATING VS. STABLE HEARING LOSS: some types of hearing loss change; sometimes improving, sometimes worsening. Such a change commonly occurs in young children who have hearing loss as a result of otitis media or fluid in the middle ear (conductive). While hearing losses of a sensorineural nature can fluctuate as well, those that remain the same year after year are regarded as stable.

FM SYSTEM: a wireless assistive listening device that consists of a transmitter (worn by the speaker) and a small receiver which couples to a hearing aid or cochlear implant or BAHA. The speaker’s voice transmits directly to the receiver, reducing the effects of background noise and loss of intensity due to distance from speaker.

FREQUENCY: the number of vibrations per second of a sound. Frequency, expressed in Hertz (Hz), determines the pitch of sound.

FUNCTIONAL GAIN: The value that describes how much amplification a hearing aid is providing. For example, a child with unaided hearing at 70 dB who, when amplified, hears at 30 dB, is experiencing a gain of 40 dB.

HARD OF HEARING: an individual with partial ability to hear who may communicate via sign language, spoken language or both.

HEARING AID: A personal electronic device that amplifies sound to improve auditory access for an individual with hearing loss. There are various hearing aid styles (e.g. Behind-the-Ear or BTE) and other features that may vary depending upon the individual’s listening needs. For children, these instruments should be fitted and dispensed by a licensed audiologist.

HEARING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: FM systems, infrared, and other hearing technologies that accommodate and improve communication for deaf and hard-of-hearing people by eliminating or minimizing noise, distance, and other factors that interfere with hearing and understanding.

HEARING IMPAIRMENT: A term defined under IDEA as “an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.” (34 CFR §300.8(5)) HEARING LOSS (also see DEAF or HARD OF HEARING): The following is a list of some of the terms used to describe a hearing loss:

• ASYMMETRICAL: when the hearing loss is different for each ear
• BILATERAL: when the hearing loss is present in both ears
• FLUCTUATING: when the hearing loss changes over time — sometimes better, sometimes poorer
• PROGRESSIVE: when the hearing loss has become worse over time
• STABLE: no significant changes are observed over time
• SUDDEN: an acute or rapid onset
• SYMMETRICAL: when the degree and configuration of the loss is the same for each ear
• UNILATERAL: when the hearing loss is present in just one ear

HEARING SCREENING: a screening of the ability to hear selected frequencies at intensities above the threshold of normal hearing. The purpose of the screening is to identify (with minimal time expenditure) individuals with significant hearing loss and to refer them for further testing.

IDEA--The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Part C refers to children birth to 3 years of age with disabilities and Part B to children 3 through age 21 years with disabilities.

IDIOSYNCRATIC LANGUAGE: As applied to the education of children who are deaf, an invented communication form developed within a small group of individuals; e.g., invented signs used in home prior to formal sign language instruction

INCLUSION: The concept that students with disabilities are integrated and included to the maximum extent possible with their (typically developing) peers in the educational setting. While often used synonymously with the term “mainstreaming,” inclusion is intended to mean that children are part of the regular classroom and removed for instruction and services only when necessary. In, mainstreaming, children are in separate classrooms and integrated for classes with typical peers when benefit is derived.

INDIVIDUALIZED FAMILY SERVICE PLAN (IFSP): A team-developed written plan for infants and toddlers describing early intervention services for a child and his/her family. The IFSP 1) addresses the family’s strengths, needs, concerns, and priorities; 2) identifies support services available to meet those needs; and 3) empowers the family to meet the developmental needs of their infant or toddler with a disability. The IFSP is developed by families with input from a multi-disciplinary team.

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM (IEP): A team-developed written program that identifies therapeutic and educational goals and objectives needed to appropriately address the educational needs of a student with a disability age 3 through 21 years. An IEP for a student with hearing loss should take into account such factors as 1) communication needs and the child’s and family’s preferred mode of communication; 2) linguistic needs; 3) severity of hearing loss; 4) academic progress; 5) social and emotional needs, including opportunities for peer interactions and communication; and 6) appropriate accommodations to facilitate learning.

INTENSITY: The loudness of a sound measured in decibels (dB).

LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT (LRE): A basic principle of IDEA that requires public schools to establish procedures to ensure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. A common definition of LRE for children/youth who are deaf and hard of hearing is a Language Rich Environment.

LINGUISTICS: The science of language, including phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.

LISTENING AND SPOKEN LANGUAGE THERAPY: application of techniques, strategies, and procedures that promote optimal acquisition of spoken language through listening

MAINSTREAMING: The concept that students with disabilities attending school with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent possible and when appropriate to the needs of the child with a disability. Mainstreaming is one point on a continuum of educational options. The term is sometimes used synonymously with “inclusion” though intention is different (see INCLUSION).

MANUALLY CODED ENGLISH: A term applied to a variety of different sign systems that represent English manually. Such systems include Signed English and Signing Exact English (SEE II).

MIXED HEARING LOSS: a hearing loss that has a combined conductive and sensorineural component.

MODE OF COMMUNICATION: Modality through which an individual with a hearing loss receives and produces language. This includes oral/aural, auditory-verbal, LSL, sign communication, cued speech, and combinations thereof.

MODIFICATIONS: A substantial change in what a student is expected to learn and demonstrate. These changes are made to provide a student the opportunity to participate meaningfully and productively in learning experiences and environments.

MONOAURAL AMPLIFICATION: The use of one hearing aid instead of two.

MORPHEME: A linguistic unit of relatively stable meaning that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts. Morphemes may be words such as “dog” or a word element such as “-ed” in walked or “-s” as in cats.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM: Involvement of two or more disciplines or professionals that provide integrated and coordinated services that include evaluation and assessment activities and development of an IFSP/IEP.

ORAL EDUCATION: A philosophy of teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to make efficient use of residual hearing through early use of amplification, to develop speech and to use speechreading skills.

ORAL TRANSLITERATOR: a person who communicates the words of a speaker or group of speakers to an individual who is deaf by inaudibly mouthing what is said so that is can be read on the lips

OTITIS MEDIA: an infection of the middle ear. Children with recurrent episodes that are not appropriately treated may be at a higher risk for permanent decrease in hearing and/or may have a fluctuating hearing loss.

OTOLARYNGOLOGIST: A physician who specializes in the health and function of the ear, nose and throat.

OTOLOGIST: a physician who specializes in medical conditions of the ear

OTOSCOPE: An instrument for examining the ear canal and the eardrum.

PIDGIN SIGN ENGLISH (PSE): A variety of sign language that combines some features of American Sign Language and English. It is sometimes called a “contact language.”

POSTLINGUAL DEAFNESS: Hearing loss acquired after learning a first language.

PRAGMATICS: The appropriateness of language use for the situation, the speaker, and the audience in regard to logic and validity.

PRELINGUAL DEAFNESS: Hearing loss acquired before learning a first language.

PROGRESSIVE HEARING LOSS: A hearing loss that becomes increasingly greater over time.

PURE-TONE: A type of auditory stimuli to represent frequency (pitch) used commonly in hearing testing.

REAL-TIME CAPTIONING: A transcription of the speaker or speakers that is achieved by a captioner or transcriptionist typing the material as it is spoken using a standard word processing program and projecting to a computer or other screen.

RESIDUAL HEARING: The amount of usable hearing available for amplification purposes

REVERBERATION: prolongation (continuation) of a sound after the sound source has ceased. The amount of reverberant energy in a room depends on the absorption quality of the material of the walls, floor, and ceiling.

SEMANTICS: the use of meaningful referents, in both word and sentence structures

SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS: a hearing loss that is caused by damage to some or all of the nerves in the cochlea. Sensorineural hearing loss causes both distortion and decreased loudness of sounds.

SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO/SPEECH-TO-NOISE RATIO: The difference in the intensities of the speech signal (such as the teacher’s voice) and the ambient (background) noise.

SIGNED ENGLISH: The Signed English system was devised as a signed representation of English for children between the ages of 1 and 6 years old. ASL signs are used in an English word order, with 14 sign markers being added to represent a portion of the grammatical system of English. Derivations of Signed English include Seeing Essential English (SEE I) and the form most commonly used today Signing Exact English (SEE II).

SIGNING EXACT ENGLISH (SEE2): The SEE system was developed for use by parents and teachers of English. SEE2 uses ASL signs, along with initialized and newly created signs in English word order to represent English on the hands.

SIMULTANEOUS COMMUNICATION (SIM COM):: Use of spoken language and sign language at the same time. A significant area of concern related to the simultaneous use of sign and spoken language is that the child does not get a clear representation of either English or American Sign Language (ASL).