Category: A

A form of congenital hearing loss in which the cochlea functions normally, but retrocochlear (brainstem or brain) structures fail to process sound properly. This condition is also known as auditory neuropathy.  

The hearing center of the cerebral cortex; located in the floor of the lateral fissure and surfacing on the dorsal surface of the superior temporal gyrus. It receives auditory fibers from the medial geniculate body.  

Excessive attention to sounds that do not disturb others.  

A device used to test hearing, especially in the 500 to 4000 Hz range — the range of human speech. It combines an otoscope (used to identify cerumen impaction or abnormalities that may cause conductive hearing loss) with an audiometer (set at 40 dB) to assess the ability to hear particular tones.  

A method of testing the hearing of children who cannot be adequately tested by conventional means. The test is based on the electroencephalogram’s being altered by perceived sound without the need for a behavioral response, so the test may be done on an autistic, severely retarded, or hyperkinetic child who is asleep or sedated.  

A brief recorded file, linked to a website or to an electronic message, used to relay audible information from one user to another.  

Anesthesia or analgesia produced by sound; used by dentists to help prevent perception of pain.  

Sound containing frequency components between 15 and 15,000 Hz (cycles per second).  

An abnormal finding on a Papanicolaou test in which squamous cells from the endocervix have enlarged nuclei with irregular nuclear membranes and hyperchromasia. These pathological changes are more prominent than those that are typically seen with inflammation alone. ASC-US is often associated with infection of the cervix with human papillomavirus, a virus that is associated…

A premalignant lesion of the breast. Atypical ductal hyperplasia is often found in biopsy specimens of patients with breast cancer. It is characterized by a small number of breast ducts with abnormal cellular and glandular structures. Pathologists hypothesize that atypical ductal hyperplasia is one of several breast lesions that can develop into ductal carcinoma in…