Acusis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The faculty by which sounds are perceived and interpreted by the ear and brain
2. The ability to detect, process, and understand acoustic vibrations as meaningful sensory information
3. The capacity to hear and distinguish different tones, volumes, and qualities of sound

Etymology: Acusis comes from the Greek "akousis", meaning "hearing", from "akouein", "to hear", which is related to "akoe", "hearing" or "sound". Its English use is technical: it appears in medical writing for hearing itself, usually in compounds such as "dyacusis" (impaired hearing) and "hyperacusis" (abnormal sensitivity to sound), which were coined in the 19th and early 20th centuries from Greek roots rather than used by the ancient Greeks in those senses. The word was not used in everyday English. It shows up as a standalone term in specialist dictionaries of medicine and otology, where it means the sense of hearing, and it is most often seen in the combining forms that doctors and audiologists use to describe different kinds of hearing condition.

Synonyms: hearing, audition

Antonyms: deafness