acous-, acou-, acouo-, acoustico-, acouto-, acousti-, -acousia, -acousis, -acoustical, acu-, -acusis-, -acusia

(Greek: akoustikos, to hear, hearing; to listen, listening)

psychoacoustical (adjective), more psychoacoustical, most psychoacoustical
A refernce to the study of the relationship between the perceptions of sounds and their physiological and psychological effects on people: Scientists are discovering that some psychoacoustical sounds cause hearing loss that is often misdiagnosed as an effect of aging.
psycho-acoustician, psychoacoustician (s) (noun); psycho-acousticians; psychoacousticians (pl)
An expert or specialist in the prognosis and treatment of mentally processed sounds that are imaginary: Nancy was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the hospital under the care of the psycho-acoustician who was familiar with patients with imaginary perceptions of sounds.

According to a psychoacoustician, most people perceive airplane noise as if it were 10 dB greater than a similar noise that is made by a train, or ten times noisier than a train even when the noise levels of both are objectively the same.

psychoacoustics (s) (noun) (no pl)
1. The science that deals with the perceptions of sounds and the productions of speech: In the local university, there is a course offered on psychoacoustics into which many speech therapists enroll.

While working in the mental health unit at the hospital, Dr. Kitchen observed patients when different kinds of music was played, hoping to write a scientific paper on psychoacoustics for a professional journal.

2. A discipline combining experimental psychology and physics that deals with the physical features of sound as related to audition, as well as with the physiology and psychology of sound receptor processes: The local university's psychology and physiology departments were the primary organizers of an international convention that was being planned in the city for scientists and practitioners of psychoacoustics."
3. The scientific investigation of the way in which animals and humans hear, particularly the reception and analysis of the input signals: Dr. Laurie specialized in psychoacoustics, studying the relationship that existed between sound receptions and the biological processing of sounds.
sociacusis, socioacusis (s) (noun); sociacuses; socioacuses (pl)
Hearing loss induced by exposure to loud noise encountered in everyday life, apart from occupational noise: Sociacusis among rock concert devotees is often suspected of being the result of the prolonged exposure to the loud music. Sometimes sociacuses is also caused by overly laud sounds in movie theatres.
stato-acoustics (s) (noun) (no pl)
A reference to the senses or faculties of both equilibration (equilibrium, or being evenly balanced) and hearing: The acoustician who fitted Esther with her new hearing aide was careful to ensure a well-balanced condition of stato-acoustics.
stethacoustic (adjective), more stethacoustic, most stethacoustic
Pertaining to sounds that are heard with a medical instrument for listening to the sounds that are generated inside the body: "The doctor was listening to Patrick's stethacoustic sounds in an effort to determine whether his heart was functioning as it should."
surface acoustic wave, SAW (s) (noun); surface acoustic waves; SAWs (pl)
A technology used for automatic identification in which low power microwave radio frequency signals are converted to ultrasonic acoustic signals by a piezoelectric crystalline material in the transponder: Surface acoustic waves were first described by Lord Rayleigh in 1885.

Variations in the reflected signal can be used to provide a unique identity.

SAW appliances are applied in television and radio.
telacousis (s) (noun), telacouses (pl)
Involving the perception of a sound beyond or apart from the possibility of ordinary hearing: The medium who was invited to the seance used telacousis as part of her routine to establish contact with spirit.
telacoustic (adjective), more telacoustic, most telacoustic
A reference to the awareness of a sound that is usually not perceived with normal hearing: Darlene believed that her cat had very telacoustic hearing because it appeared to react to sounds that Darlene did not hear herself.
Unit Test, Acous (Hearing) Words

Acous Words, Quiz.



If you would like to take a self-scoring quiz over many of the words in this unit, then click on this Hearing Quiz link so you can see how much you know about some of these “acous-, acou-” words.

Related "hear, hearing; listen, listening" units: audio-; ausculto-.