Acous-, -acoustical Words:
“acouasm” to “acoutometer”,
Part 1 of 2.
Words that include: acous-, acou-, acouo-, acoustico-, acouto-, acousti-, -acousia, -acousis, -acoustical, acu-, -acusis-, -acusia
(Greek: hearing, listening, of or for hearing).
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“acous-, acou-” words.
acouasm:
In psychiatry: a nonverbal auditory hallucination, such as a ringing or hissing in the ears; acousma; also known as tinnitus.
acoubouy:
Used by military ordnance, a listening device dropped by parachute onto land and water, used to detect sounds of enemy movements and transmit them to orbiting aircraft or land stations.
acouesthesia:
The sense of hearing; auditory perception.
You can hear cow bells but you can’t hear cow horns.
—Evan Esar
We hear what we listen for.
—Anonymous
A good listener is one who can give you his full attention
without hearing a word you say.
—Anonymous
acoumeter:
An instrument used for estimating the power or extent of the sense of hearing before the introduction of audiometers. Variant spellings include these words: acouometer, acoumeter, acousmeter, acousmetric, acousmometric, acoumetry, and acoumetric.
acouophone:
An obsolete term for an electric hearing aid.
acouophonia:
“Auscultatory percussion” or the act of listening to sounds produced within the body, especially the chest and abdomen, as a means of detecting evidence of disorders or pregnancy.
acousia:
This is now spelled acusis.
acousma:
A simple auditory hallucination, such as ringing or buzzing sounds “in the ears”; also acouasm.
acousmata:
Things received (heard) on authority; a technical word of a school of philosophy.
acousmatic:
A professed hearer, a class of scholars under Pythagoras, who listened to his teachings, without inquiring into their inner truths or bases.
acousmatagnosis:
In psychology, an abnormal inability to understand spoken words and to recognize meaningful sounds.
acousmatamnesia:
Failure of the memory to call up the images of sounds; inability to remember certain sounds.
acousmatic:
A class of scholars under Pythagoras, who listened to his teaching, without inquiring into its inner truths or basis.
acoustic, acoustical, acoustically:
Pertaining to the sense of hearing; adapted to aid hearing; the science of audible sounds.
acoustic agraphia:
The inability to write from dictation (from what is heard).
acousticate:
To deny that one has been correctly heard even when one is painfully aware that there has been no mistake, this denial being often supported by the hasty fabrication of a new utterance, similar in sound to the original, but more agreeable in sense. “I quickly acousticated ‘fatuous ass’ into ‘anfractuous mass,’ and nobody noticed a thing.” (From In a Word, edited by Jack Hitt; as quoted from Richard Tristman, professor).
acoustician:
A specialist in acoustics.
acousticofacial:
Relating to both the eighth (auditory) and seventh (facial) cranial nerves.
acousticomotor:
A motor response to sound.
acousticon:
An instrument for helping the hearing impaired to hear.
acousticopalpebral:
Relating to both the acoustic part of the eighth cranial nerve and the eyelids. The orbicularis oculi muscle, which closes the eyelids, is innervated by the seventh (facial) nerve.
acousticophobia [also spelled akousticophobia]:
An abnormal fear of hearing noises in general or specific noises or sounds. This phobia goes beyond just being startled by sudden loud noises. Some people fear specific noises, such as whistling, balloons popping, or sonic booms.
acoustics:
1. The science of sound and the phenomena of hearing.
2. In physics, the science and study of sound, including its production, transmission, and effects.
3. In architecture: a. The sum of the qualities, as absence of echo or reverberation, that determine the value of a room, enclosure, or auditorium with respect to distinct hearing. b. The science of planning and building an enclosure so that sound will be perfectly transmitted within it.
4. In psychology: The part of psychology dealing with hearing. Acoustics is usually construed as a singular noun, except in the sense with reference to the science of sound qualities for buildings as in “3.a” above.
Acoustics is the science of sound. The term in the sense of a scientific discipline was first coined as the French term “acoustique” in an article published in 1701 by Joseph Sauveur, who stated (in this English translation) “I have formed the opinion that there is a higher science than music, and I call it acoustics; it has for its object sounds in general, whereas music has for its object sounds pleasing to the ear. To treat this science as other sciences, such as optics, it is necessary to explain the nature of sound, the organ of hearing, and all the properties of sound.”
Advances in instrumentation made possible the systematic study of sounds (infrasound and ultrasound) with frequencies lower and higher than humans can hear, and it was recognized that the same physical principles are applicable.
—Allan D. Pierce, Pennsylvania State University,
as seen in the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology,
edited by Christopher Morris; Academic Press,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers; New York; 1992.
acoustimeter:
A portable electronic device for measuring noise levels, especially those of traffic.
acoustoelectric effect:
In electronics, the generatioin of a DC voltage in a crystal or in a metallic material, due to acoustic waves traveling along the surface of the material.
acoustoelectronics:
The use of acoustic energy to create electromagnetic waves, usually with crystals or metals that react when bombarded with acoustic waves, and the processing of such waves prior to reproduction of the original sound.
acoustogram, acoustigram:
The graphic tracing of the curves, delineated in frequencies per second and decibel levels, of sounds produced by motion of a joint. Applied to the knee joint, an acoustogram will show the sound of the moving semilunar cartilages, the moving contact between the articular surfaces of the femur and tibia, and the circulation of the synovia.
acousto-optics, acousto-optic, acousto-optical, acousto-optically:
The science and technology of the interactions between sound waves and light waves passing through solid materials, especially as applied to the modulation and deflection of laser beams by ultrasonic waves; important in laser and holographic technologies.
acoutometer:
An instrument for measuring the level of sounds.
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