Category: H

  • Heart sounds

    Two different sounds made by the heart as it beats. Any of four distinct sounds produced within the heart during its normal cycle of contraction and relaxation and heard with a stethoscope placed on the chest over the heart. The first sound (a dull, prolonged lub) is caused by closure of the valves between the…

  • Heart massage

    A treatment which involves pressing on the chest to make a heart which has stopped beating start working again.  

  • Heart-lung transplant

    An operation to transplant a new heart and lungs into someone. A surgical procedure to remove a diseased heart and lungs and replace them with a healthy heart and lungs from a recently deceased donor. Heart-lung transplant is performed only on those who have both severely diseased lungs and advanced heart disease, are likely to…

  • Heart disease

    Any disease of the heart in general.  

  • Heartbeat

    The regular noise made by the heart as it pumps blood. A heartbeat is a contraction of the heart that propels blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. This intricate process requires the different parts of the heart to contract in a precise order, regulated by electrical impulses originating from the sinoatrial…

  • Hearing loss

    Partial or complete loss of the ability to hear. Inability or impaired ability to hear and interpret sounds, the two general types of ear and hearing problems being conductive losses and sensorineural losses. Partial or total loss of the ability to perceive and identify sound. There are four general categories of hearing loss: conductive hearing…

  • Hearing-impaired

    Having any degree of hearing loss that interferes with communication, development, learning, or interpersonal interactions. Hearing which is not clear and sharp.  

  • Hearing aid

    A small electronic device fitted into or near the ear, to improve someone’s hearing by making the sounds louder. An electronic aid used by people with certain kinds of hearing impairment to make sounds louder. The effect of a hearing aid depends on the seriousness and type of the hearing loss. Electronic device, usually worn…

  • Hear

    To sense sounds with the ears.  

  • Health visitor

    A registered nurse with qualifications in midwifery or obstetrics and preventive medicine, who visits mothers and babies and sick people in their homes and advises on treatment. Community nurses with special training work in collaboration with general pracitioners, they are primarily responsible for illness prevention and health screening and education of children and elderly people…