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ABR Test: Auditory Brainstem Evoked Response Test. It tests the response of your child’s auditory nerve and the auditory area of the brain. Young children are usually sleeping or sedated for this test. Electrode stickers placed on your child’s scalp record changes in the activity of the brainstem when sounds are presented to each ear through a headphone.
Atresia: Lack of an ear canal opening where sound normally travels by air waves to the middle ear. Atresia results in a conductive hearing loss.
Audiogram: A chart or graph that shows how well a person hears. It often shows what a person can hear with a hearing aid and without a hearing aid.
Audiologist: A person who tests hearing and works with deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Most audiologists have, as a minimum, a Master’s degree and are certified by the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. (In the United States, audiologists are certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.)
Audiometer: Electronic equipment that is used to test hearing.
Auditory Nerve: The hearing nerve that connects the cochlea to the brain. It sends messages from the ear to the brain.
Auditory Neuropathy: The child’s external, middle, and inner ear or cochlea seems to receive sounds normally, but signals leaving the cochlea may be disorganized or the auditory nerve might not be processing sound normally. A child with auditory neuropathy often has more difficulty understanding speech than would be expected from his audiogram. The child’s hearing may also seem to fluctuate.
Bilateral Hearing Loss: Hearing loss in both ears.
Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA): The BAHA is for children who benefit from bone conduction hearing aids. The BAHA contains a tiny box with a microphone, processor, and a battery, which are all attached to a titanium screw inserted into the skull. Sound vibrations are transmitted directly through the screw to the bone and from there to the cochlea.
Bone-Conduction Testing: A bone vibrator is placed behind the child’s ear. The vibrator stimulates the inner ear directly and bypasses the middle ear. This helps to determine where the child’s hearing problem is located. If the problem is located in the outer or middle ear (conductive hearing loss), then it may be helped with medical intervention. If the problem is located in the inner ear (the auditory nerve, or the auditory area of the brain), then it is a permanent type of hearing loss (sensorineural).
Bone Oscillator: The vibrator used in bone-conduction testing.
BTE hearing aids: Behind-the-ear hearing aids.
