Definitions
Notes:
deaf - an individual or a group of individuals who lack the sense of hearing due to illness, accident, or congenital condition and who do not receive help from hearing aids
hearing-impaired - an individual or a group of individuals who have a hearing loss that can be helped with the use of hearing aids
postlingually deaf - individuals who lost their hearing after the acquisition of language, usually after the age of three, and have a relatively strong language base
prelingually deaf - individuals who lost their hearing prior to the acquisition of language, usually before the age of 3, and have no language frame of reference
cochlear implant - signal device that transforms sound waves into electrical signals and stimulates the cochlear nerve allowing the deaf person to perceive auditory sensations directly through their own auditory system. All implants consist of two sets of components, external and internal.