Special Education
Hard of Hearing and Deaf Students:
A Resource Guide to Support Classroom Teachers
Selected Vocabulary
American sign language (ASL)
- the native language of most deaf adults in North America. ASL is a distinctive visual-spatial language with its own grammatical rules and syntax, which is not derived from any other written or spoken language.
assistive devices
- technical aids for the deaf and hard of hearing
A. T. E.
- auditory training equipment (includes transmitter, receiver, and hearing aids) Also referred to as FM systems
audiogram
- a graph that provides a picture of the amount of hearing; hearing levels are recorded in decibels (loudness) for each frequency (pitch) tested
auditory discrimination
- the ability to perceive and identify individual sounds.
auditory learning
(auditory training) - specific attention focused on specific speech or environmental sounds to optimize residual hearing
auditory management
- includes all aspects of the student's environment which impacts on maximizing residual hearing
closed-caption decoder
- a device which when attached to a TV or a VCR may be set to make the captions appear
closed-captioning
- subtitles which enable viewers to read the dialogue of a television program, video, or film
conductive hearing loss
- damage or obstruction in the outer or middle ear resulting in reduced conduction of sound to the inner ear. This loss is most commonly caused by ear infection (e.g. otitis media) which in the majority of cases can be cleared by medical treatment.
Deaf community
- a separate linguistic and cultural group of deaf individuals who use American Sign Language for communication
deafness
- a hearing loss so severe that linguistic information cannot be processed through the ear, with or without a hearing aid
decibel (dB)
- a unit of measurement for the intensity of sound
finger spelling
- a system of forming the letters of the alphabet and numbers with hand shapes. Finger spelling corresponds to the written alphabet.
free-field system
- a wireless microphone, worn by the teacher, transmits amplified sound to speakers placed strategically around the classroom
frequency
- the number of times a sound wave vibrates in a second, measured in hertz.
hard of hearing
- those people who, usually, with the use of a hearing aid have sufficient residual hearing to process linguistic information auditorally
hertz/Hz
- a unit of measurement which describes the pitch of a sound. The number of hertz corresponds to the number of vibrations per second
interpreter
- a person who facilitates communication between the deaf or hard of hearing student and hearing peers, service providers and teachers. The communication mode (ASL, Manually Coded English, or Oral) must support the student's learning program.
Manually Coded English (MCE)
- an umbrella term that refers to all English-based sign systems. ASL features and finger spelling are incorporated into signs that follow English syntax and grammar to try to present a more conceptually accurate message.
Message Relay Center (MRC)
- a service provided by B.C. Tel to relay telephone messages from a telephone user to a TTY user (consult the telephone directory
residual hearing
- hearing which remains after a person has experienced a hearing loss
sensori-neural hearing loss
- often referred to as nerve deafness, which cannot be cured by medical treatment
Signed English
- a system of gestures and signs that follows English syntax and grammar
speech range/zone
- the range of spoken language that can be heard by the human ear, occurring between the frequencies of 250 Hz to 4000 Hz (refer to audiograms on page 4)
speech reading
- the use of lip movements, facial expressions, and body language to determine the speaker's meaning
TTY/TDD
- (teletypewriter) - telephone device for the deaf
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