A Guide to Terminology About Hearing Loss and Communication Access
ADA
See Americans with Disabilities Act.
Alerting Device
Visual or tactile devices to alert a person who cannot hear to door knocks, telephone rings, fire alarms, etc.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 Public Law 101-336 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by private entities.
Amplified Phone
Phone equipped with volume control on the handset. Public coin-operated phones 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. It brings the speaker’s voice directly to the ear. Helps to overcome the problems of distance and surrounding noise.
Audio Loop (Induction Loop)
Uses electromagnetic waves for transmission of sound. The sound from an amplifier is fed into a wire loop surrounding the seating area (or worn on the listener’s neck) which broadcasts to a telecoil that serves as a receiver. Hearing aids without a T-switch to activate a telecoil can use a special induction receiver to pick up the sound.
Auxiliary Aids and Services
The Department of Justice regulation provides a comprehensive list of auxiliary aids and services required by the ADA to help over-come communication barriers. Examples of auxiliary aids and services are: assistive listening devices, interpreters, notetakers, captioning, etc.
CapTel™ - The Captioned Telephone
Written captions of everything the caller says appear in the built-in CapTel display.
CART - Communication Access Realtime Translation
CART or Communication Access Realtime Translation is the verbatim, near instantaneous conversion of spoken language into text. A stenotype machine, notebook computer and realtime software is used to produce the text. The text is usually displayed by either on a screen by a projector connected to the notebook computer, or on a notebook computer or computer monitor. CART is usually utilized by people with hearing loss who use spoken language as a primary mode of communication. However, some culturally Deaf people (whose primary mode of communication is a sign language) use CART in situations such as graduate level anatomy classes, as it may be easier to read all of the specific terminology rather than have signs improvised on the spot, or use finger spelling.
Certified Hearing Dog
A dog which has completed extensive training to alert its owner to a variety of sounds in different environments. These dogs are usually identified by a bright orange leash with black lettering.
Closed Captions
Text display of spoken dialogue and sounds on TV and videos visible only to those using a caption decoder or TV with built-in decoder chip.
Communication Access
Accommodations that provide an environment where persons with hearing loss can communicate.
Compatible Telephone
Generates a magnetic field that can be picked up by turning on a “T-switch” to activate the telecoil in a hearing aid. The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 mandates that all telephones manufactured in the United States from 1989 on should be hearing aid compatible.
Computer-Assisted Notetaking
Visual display of the speaker’s words. A notetaker types on a computer key-board a summary of what is being said. The notes are displayed on a projection screen or monitor.
Cued Speech
A sound-based visual communication system which in English uses eight handshapes in four different locations (“cues”), in combination with the natural mouth movements of speech, to make all the sounds of spoken language look different.
Decibel (dB)
Unit used to express the intensity of a sound wave in logarithmic ratios to the base of ten. Sounds of different frequencies need to be from 0-20 dB in intensity to be heard by normal ears. If more than 20 dB is needed, then further hearing evaluation would be recommended.
Deaf
Describes people who usually have no useful residual hearing and who generally employ sign language as their primary mode of communication. They may also use speechreading, hearing aids and other assistive technology to aid in communication. Based on the age at the time of loss of hearing, people who are deaf are categorized into two groups: congenitally deaf – those who were born deaf; and adventitiously deaf – those who were born with hearing, but whose sense of hearing became non-functional later in life through illness or accident.
Effective Communication
Term used in the ADA as a standard for access for people with hearing loss. A public accommodation must provide an auxiliary aid or service where necessary to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities. The Department of Justice strongly encourages staff of public accommodations to consult with the individuals before providing them with particular auxiliary aids or services.
FCC
Federal Communications Commision
FCCDHH
Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
FM
A transmitter which broadcasts the signal by radio waves from the sound source to a receiver worn by the listener. Useful in large indoor or outdoor locations, since it can cover several hundred feet and pass through physical obstructions.
Hard of Hearing
Describes people with any degree of hearing loss ranging from mild to profound. They can understand some speech sounds, with or without a hearing aid. Most people who are hard of hearing are oralists, although a small number learn sign language. Generally, they are committed to participating in society by using their residual hearing plus hearing aids, speechreading, and assistive technology to aid communication.
Head-End Decoding
Hotels with in-house television cable systems can provide closed captioning services by head-end decoding. The TV signal at the master antenna (head-end) is split and one of the two signals is run through a closed caption decoder. The decoded signal is outputted to an unused TV channel of the in-house cable distribution system. Viewers can have a choice of the same program on a channel with captions or on another channel without captions.
Hearing Aid
An amplification device to assist persons with hearing loss. There are different kinds of aids distinguished by how they are worn. They may be in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC), behind-the-ear (BTE), or on the body. The technology is still imperfect and hearing aids do not correct hearing loss. Newest developments include programmable aids.
Hearing Dog
See Certified Hearing Dog.
Hearing Impaired
Generic term used to describe all persons with hearing loss, includes two million deaf people and 22 million hard of hearing people in the United States.
Infrared
Similar to FM except that it uses invisible light waves to transmit sound. Frequently used in theaters.
International Symbol of Access for Hearing Loss
Symbol used to denote communication access. Represents hearing loss in a general way. See graphic page 31.
Interpreter- Sign language
the visible movements of hands, body and face replace the vocal elements of a spoken language. Depending on the communication situation and personal preferences, deaf and hard of hearing persons in the United States who use sign language may communicate using the unique grammar of American Sign Language (ASL) or some variety of signing that uses features taken from both ASL and English.
Lipreading
A skill used by a person with hearing loss to try to understand speech by watching the lips. The term “speechreading” is now recognized as being more descriptive since it includes watching the facial expressions and body language, as well as the lips of the speaker.
Notetaker
A person who takes notes on a blackboard, overhead projector, notebook, etc. Key words and phrases are written to enhance the understanding of the person with a hearing loss.
Oral
the interpreter silently mouths the words of the speaker so they are visible on the lips. Used when the person with hearing loss uses speechreading to understand the conversation.
Otologist/Neurotologist
An otologist/neurotologist is a board-certified otolaryngologist who provides medical and surgical care of patients, both adult and pediatric, with diseases that affect the ears, balance system, temporal bone, skull base, and related structures of the head and neck. The neurotologist is knowledgeable of the basic sciences of hearing, balance, nerve function, infectious disease, and anatomy of head and neck. Their diagnostic, medical, and surgical skills include treatment of hearing loss and tinnitus, dizziness, infectious and inflammatory diseases of the ear, facial nerve disorders, congenital malformations of the ear, and tumors of the ear, hearing nerve, and skull base. As part of a team with neurosurgeons, they manage diseases and disorders of the cranial nerves and skull base.
Presbycusis
The term used to describe the slow, progressive type of hearing loss that goes along with aging. At age 65, one in every three persons has a hearing loss.
Real-Time Captioning
The process of producing either open or closed captions simultaneously with a live event. Real-time captioning incorporates a specialized computer system and stenographic keyboard much like those used in courtrooms.
Reverse Oral Interpreter (Visible-to-Spoken)
A professional support specialist who is trained to read the lips of a person with impaired speech, and then voice the message for the benefit of hearing persons. This type of interpreter can be used in a hospital to red lips of patients who are able to move their lips, but are not able to produce sound, due to a tracheostomy or a laryngectomy.
Sign Language
See Interpreter.
Speechreading
See Lipreading.
Telecommunications Relay Service
Sometimes called dual-party telephone relay service. Enables text telephone users to communicate with a non-text telephone user by way of a relay service communications assistant. The ADA mandates a nationwide relay service by 1993.
T-Switch
A setting on a hearing aid that can be used with a hearing-aid-compatible telephone, assistive listening device, and audio loop system. When the hearing aid is switched to “T”, it activates the induction telecoil (the technical name for the “T” switch), causing the hearing aid to pick up the magnetic field generated by the “hearing-aid-compatible” telephone assistive device, or audio loop system being used.
Text Telephone (TT)
Formerly TDD or TTY – a text telephone is a telecommunications device used by those who cannot understand on the phone. A typewriter-like unit shows the conversation on a screen so that it can be read. The transmission is with a special coding called Baudot or ASCII.
TDD
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf. See Text Telephone (TT).
TT
See Text Telephone.
Videotext Display
A real-time speech-to-text system. The words of the speaker are typed on a keyboard similar to that used by court reporters. The text is then projected onto a screen to be read by the audience. Specially trained personnel are required to operate this system.
Visual Alarm Signal
A visual signal (flashing light) giving notice that an audible event has taken place. For example, doorbell, fire alarm, ringing telephone. Some systems monitor a single event, others can monitor several events and indicate which event has occurred.
