Knox County Schools Hearing Services: Glossary of Terms

AUDIOGRAM – a graphic picture of a person’s ability to hear various pitches at different intensities of sound. (More)

AUDIOLOGIST- a specialist who has a Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in audiology who is responsible for identification, audiological evaluations, and management of persons with hearing loss. (More)

AURAL/ORAL- a method of training a person who is deaf and/or hearing impaired to use their residual hearing to develop speech and language skills.

AUDITORY TRAINING - methods used to train improved listening skills for persons who are deaf and/or hearing impaired.

COCHLEAR IMPLANT - a surgically implanted electronic device that stimulates nerve endings in the inner ear in order to receive and process sound and speech. (More)

DEAF EDUCATOR/HEARING SPECIALIST - a specialist who has a degree in deaf education and implements programs for students who are deaf and/or hearing impaired.

DEAFNESS - “a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”

EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETER - a trained person who facilitates communication for students who are deaf and/or hearing impaired.

FM SYSTEM/AUDITORY TRAINER - an electronic listening device that transmits the teacher’s voice to a receiver in which sound is amplified and transmitted to the student through earphones or hearing aids. (More)

HEARING AID - an electronic device that amplifies sounds to the ear. (More)

HEARING IMPAIRMENT - “an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuation, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but does not include Deafness.” (More)

TOTAL COMMUNICATION - a method of training a person who is deaf and/or hearing impaired a combination of sign language and speech to communicate.

VERBOTONAL SYSTEM - an approach used to improve the communication skills of students who are deaf or hearing impaired. This approach emphasizes the use of residual hearing and the importance of developing good rhythm, intonation, and voice quality using various techniques. These techniques include movement therapy and corrective body movements for stimulation and indirect correction of speech sounds, situational teaching, phonetic rhythms for increasing auditory memory skills, and auditory perceptual training using broad band and filtered amplification as well as vibrotactile stimulation for perception and production of speech sounds.