This is a glossary of medical terms related to communication disorders which are psychological or medical conditions that could have the potential to affect the ways in which individuals can hear, listen, understand, speak and respond to others.
A
Acoustic neuroma Tumor, usually benign, which may develop on the hearing and balance nerves and can cause gradual hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or dizziness. (sometimes called vestibular schwannoma). Also see Neurofibromatosis Type 2.
Acquired deafness Loss of hearing that occurs or develops some time during the lifespan but is not present at birth.
Alport syndrome Hereditary condition characterized by kidney disease, sensorineural hearing loss, and sometimes eye defects.
American Sign Language (ASL) Manual language with its own syntax and grammar, used primarily by people who are deaf.
Aphasia Total or partial loss of the ability to use or understand language; usually caused by stroke, brain disease, or injury.
Aphonia Complete loss of voice.
Apraxia Inability to execute a voluntary movement despite being able to demonstrate normal muscle function.
Articulation disorder Inability to correctly produce speech sounds (phonemes) because of imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed, or flow of movement of the lips, tongue, or throat.
Assistive devices Technical tools and devices such as alphabet boards, text telephones, or text-to-speech conversion software used to aid individuals who have communication disorders perform actions, tasks, and activities.
Audiologist Health care professional who is trained to evaluate hearing loss and related disorders, including balance (vestibular) disorders and tinnitus, and to rehabilitate individuals with hearing loss and related disorders. An audiologist uses a variety of tests and procedures to assess hearing and balance function and to fit and dispense hearing aids and other assistive devices for hearing.
Auditory Brainstem Response test (ABR test) A test for brain functioning in comatose, unresponsive, etc., patients, and for hearing in infants and young children; involves attaching electrodes to the head to record electrical activity from the hearing nerve and other parts of the brain.
Auditory nerve Eighth cranial nerve that connects the inner ear to the brainstem and is responsible for hearing and balance.
Auditory perception Ability to identify, interpret, and attach meaning to sound.
Auditory prosthesis Device that substitutes or enhances the ability to hear.
Augmentative devices Tools that help individuals with limited or absent speech to communicate, such as communication boards, pictographs (symbols that look like the things they represent), or ideographs (symbols representing ideas).
Aural rehabilitation Techniques used with people who are hearing impaired to improve their ability to speak and communicate.
Autoimmune deafness Individual's immune system produces abnormal antibodies that react against the body's healthy tissues.
Autism Can refer to autistic disorder a psychiatric syndrome featuring restricted and repetitive behaviors, and impaired social interaction and communication; or the group of syndromes to which autistic disorder belongs - the autism spectrum disorders.
B
Babbling Prelinguistic sound play by infants; characterized by labial consonants(/b/p/m/).
Balance Biological system that enables individuals to know where their bodies are in the environment and to maintain a desired position. Normal balance depends on information from the labyrinth in the inner ear, from other senses such as sight and touch, and from muscle movement.
Balance disorder Disruption in the labyrinth, the inner ear organ that controls the balance system, which allows individuals to know where their bodies are in the environment. The labyrinth works with other systems in the body, such as the visual and skeletal systems, to maintain posture.
Barotrauma Injury to the middle ear caused by a reduction of air pressure.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) Balance disorder that results in sudden onset of dizziness, spinning, or vertigo when moving the head.
Brainstem implant Auditory prosthesis that bypasses the cochlea and auditory nerve. This type of implant helps individuals who cannot benefit from a cochlear implant because the auditory nerves are not working.
C
Captioning Text display of spoken words, presented on a television or a movie screen, that allows a deaf or hard-of-hearing viewer to follow the dialogue and the action of a program simultaneously.
Central auditory processing disorder Inability to differentiate, recognize, or understand sounds; hearing and intelligence are normal.
Chemosensory disorders Diseases or problems associated with the sense of smell or the sense of taste.
Cholesteatoma Accumulation of dead cells in the middle ear, caused by repeated middle ear infections.
Cochlea Snail-shaped structure in the inner ear that contains the organ of hearing.
Cochlear implant Medical device that bypasses damaged structures in the inner ear and directly stimulates the auditory nerve, allowing some deaf individuals to learn to hear and interpret sounds and speech.
Cognition Thinking skills that include perception, memory, awareness, reasoning, judgment, intellect, and imagination.
Conductive hearing impairment Hearing loss caused by dysfunction of the outer or middle ear.
Cued speech Method of communication that combines speech reading with a system of hand-shapes placed near the mouth to help deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals differentiate words that look similar on the lips (e.g., bunch vs. punch) or are hidden (e.g., gag).
Cytomegalovirus (Congenital) One group of herpes viruses that infects humans and can cause a variety of clinical symptoms, including deafness or hearing impairment; infection with the virus may be either before or after birth.
D
Decibel Unit that measures the intensity or loudness of sound.
Developmental language disorder A neurodevelopmental disorder, causing persistent difficulty with language, affecting about 7–9% of the population.
Developmental verbal dyspraxia In individuals with normal muscle tone and speech muscle coordination, partial loss of the ability to consistently pronounce words.
Dizziness Physical unsteadiness, imbalance, and lightheadedness associated with balance disorders.
Dysarthria Group of speech disorders caused by disturbances in the strength or coordination of the muscles of the speech mechanism as a result of damage to the brain or nerves.
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