Hearability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. the measure of how well sounds can be perceived by the ear
2. The degree to which a sound can be detected by the ear
3. The extent that auditory signals are perceivable to listeners

Etymology: "Hearability" is a plain formation: the verb "hear" with the suffix "-ability" attached. That suffix comes from Latin "-abilis," meaning "able to be" or "capable of being," and English uses it to build adjectives such as "readable" and "washable." Adding "-ity" turns the adjective into a noun naming the quality itself, so "hearability" is the quality of being able to be heard. The construction tells you what the word is for. Where "audibility" is grounded in the older Latin "audire," "hearability" takes the native English verb and attaches the Latin-derived ending, a pairing that is common in modern English word-building. Its use is mostly technical, appearing in fields such as acoustics, broadcasting and speech engineering, where it names how clearly a sound or voice can be picked out in a given setting.

Synonyms: audibility, listening, perception, accessibility

Antonyms: inaudibility, silence, muteness