Hearing aid glossary
General, plain-language definitions with a primary reference on every term page. Definitions are not an individual assessment.
- Audiogram
- A chart of measured hearing thresholds across tested frequencies.
- Audiologist
- A hearing-health professional whose scope includes hearing and balance care.
- BTE (behind-the-ear)
- A hearing-aid style with a case behind the ear and a connection to the ear canal.
- CIC (completely-in-canal)
- A hearing-aid style designed to sit within the ear canal.
- Cochlear implant
- A hearing device with surgically implanted and external components.
- Conductive hearing loss
- A category in which sound is not conducted efficiently through the outer or middle ear.
- Decibel (dB)
- A logarithmic unit used for sound levels and hearing-test thresholds.
- Dome
- A replaceable tip used with some behind-the-ear or receiver-in-canal hearing aids.
- Feedback (whistling)
- Whistling that can occur when amplified sound is picked up again by a hearing-aid microphone.
- Frequency (Hz)
- The rate of a sound vibration, measured in hertz and perceived broadly as pitch.
- Hair cells
- Sensory cells in the inner ear involved in converting vibration into neural signals.
- ITE (in-the-ear)
- A hearing-aid style with components in a shell worn in the outer ear.
- Noise-induced hearing loss
- Hearing loss associated with harmful noise exposure.
- OTC hearing aid
- A US hearing-aid category for adults 18 and older with perceived mild-to-moderate loss.
- Presbycusis
- The medical term for age-related hearing loss.
- PSAP
- A personal sound amplification product intended for people with normal hearing in certain settings.
- Real-ear measurement (REM)
- A probe-microphone measurement of sound produced in an ear canal while a hearing aid is worn.
- RIC (receiver-in-canal)
- A hearing-aid style with a receiver in the ear canal and other components behind the ear.
- Sensorineural hearing loss
- A hearing-loss category involving the inner ear or auditory nerve pathway.
- Speech-in-noise
- Speech recognition or understanding when competing sound is present.
- Telecoil (T-coil)
- A component that can receive electromagnetic signals from compatible systems.
- Tinnitus
- The perception of sound without an external sound source.