Audiogram: a chart on which the hearing sensitivity of an individual is plotted.
Audiologist: health care professional who has academic accreditation in audiology; professional who practices audiology and provides an array of servies including hearing evaluation and rehabilitation.
Audiometer: an electronic machine that is used by an audiologist or audiometrist to present and series of tones during a hearing screening or exam.
Audiometrist: a state-licensed individual who has completed a minimum number of audiologic/audiometric classes and may provide hearing screenings at school sites.
Audiometry: the measurement of hearing sensitivity.
Bone conduction: tones are presented by means of a bone vibrator placed on the mastoid bone (located behind the ear) or forehead; used to measure the hearing sensitivity of the inner ear (cochlea).
Decibels (dB): unit for expressing sound intensity/loudness.
Frequency: in the hearing sciences, the number of regularly repeated cycles per second in a sound wave; measured/expressed in Hertz (Hz); also known as "pitch".
Hearing sensitivity: levels at which an individual is just able to hear sounds; threshold.
Hertz (Hz): the unit of measurement/expression for frequency.
Masked or Masking: when a competing sound is presented to the ear which is not being tested at the moment; prevents the ear with the masking from "hearing" for the other ear by keeping it busy.
Threshold: the loudness level at which a frequency can just barely be detected; tones of the same frequency presented at a quieter level than the threshold cannot be detected.
Unmasked: no competing sound is presented to the alternate ear during the hearing test.