What is "hearing"

Hearing \Hear"ing\, n.

1. The act or power of perceiving sound; perception of sound; the faculty or sense by which sound is perceived; as, my hearing is good.

   I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear.
   --Job xlii. 5.

   Note: Hearing in a special sensation, produced by stimulation of the auditory nerve; the stimulus (waves of sound) acting not directly on the nerve, but through the medium of the endolymph on the delicate epithelium cells, constituting the peripheral terminations of the nerve. See Ear.

2. Attention to what is delivered; opportunity to be heard; audience; as, I could not obtain a hearing.

3. A listening to facts and evidence, for the sake of adjudication; a session of a court for considering proofs and determining issues.

   His last offenses to us Shall have judicious hearing.
   --Shak.

   Another hearing before some other court.
   --Dryden.

   Note: Hearing, as applied to equity cases, means the same thing that the word trial does at law.
   --Abbot.

4. Extent within which sound may be heard; sound; earshot. ``She's not within hearing.''
   --Shak.

   They laid him by the pleasant shore, And in the hearing of the wave.
   --Tennyson.

Hear \Hear\ (h[=e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Heard (h[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Hearing.] [OE. heren, AS,. hi['e]ran, h[=y]ran, h[=e]ran; akin to OS. h[=o]rian, OFries. hera, hora, D. hooren, OHG. h[=o]ren, G. h["o]ren, Icel. heyra, Sw. h["o]ra, Dan. hore, Goth. hausjan, and perh. to Gr. 'akoy`ein, E. acoustic. Cf. Hark, Hearken.]

1. To perceive by the ear; to apprehend or take cognizance of by the ear; as, to hear sounds; to hear a voice; to hear one call.

   Lay thine ear close to the ground, and list if thou canst hear the tread of travelers.
   --Shak.

   He had been heard to utter an ominous growl.
   --Macaulay.

2. To give audience or attention to; to listen to; to heed; to accept the doctrines or advice of; to obey; to examine; to try in a judicial court; as, to hear a recitation; to hear a class; the case will be heard to-morrow.

3. To attend, or be present at, as hearer or worshiper; as, to hear a concert; to hear Mass.

4. To give attention to as a teacher or judge.

   Thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.
   --2 Sam. xv. 3.

   I beseech your honor to hear me one single word.
   --Shak.

5. To accede to the demand or wishes of; to listen to and answer favorably; to favor.

   I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice.
   --Ps. cxvi. 1.

   They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
   --Matt. vi. 7.

   Hear him. See Remark, under Hear, v. i.

   To hear a bird sing, to receive private communication. [Colloq.]
   --Shak.

   To hear say, to hear one say; to learn by common report; to receive by rumor. [Colloq.]

"perception by ear," early 13c., from present participle of hear. Meaning "a listening to evidence in a court of law" is from 1570s.

1. Able to hear. n. (context uncountable English) The sense used to perceive sound. v

2. (present participle of hear English)

adj. able to perceive sound [syn: hearing(a)] [ant: deaf]

1. n. (law) a proceeding (usually by a court) where evidence is taken for the purpose of determining an issue of fact and reaching a decision based on that evidence

2. an opportunity to state your case and be heard; "they condemned him without a hearing"; "he saw that he had lost his audience" [syn: audience]

3. the range within which a voice can be heard; "the children were told to stay within earshot" [syn: earshot, earreach]

4. the act of hearing attentively; "you can learn a lot by just listening"; "they make good music--you should give them a hearing" [syn: listening]

5. a session (of a committee or grand jury) in which witnesses are called and testimony is taken; "the investigative committee will hold hearings in Chicago"

6. the ability to hear; the auditory faculty; "his hearing was impaired" [syn: audition, auditory sense, sense of hearing, auditory modality]

Hearing is the sense by which sound is perceived.

Hearing may also refer to:

• Hearing (law), a legal proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer
  • Preliminary hearing
  • United States congressional hearing
• Hearing (person), a person who has hearing within normal parameters
• Hearing loss

Hearing, auditory perception, or audition is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations, changes in the pressure of the surrounding medium through time, through an organ such as the ear.

The term hearing or hearing person, from the perspective of mainstream English-language culture, refers to someone whose sense of hearing is at the medical norm. From this point of view, someone who is not fully hearing has a hearing loss or is said to be hard of hearing or deaf. The continuum of hearing ability tends to be broken down into fine gradations. Moving down the scale and further away from the medical norm, people are classed as hearing, then slightly hard of hearing, moderately hard of hearing, severely hard of hearing, and finally deaf (severely deaf or profoundly deaf for those furthest from the norm).

However, when examined in the context of Deaf culture, the term “hearing” often does not hold the same meaning as when one thinks simply of a person's ability to hear sounds. In Deaf culture, “hearing”, being the opposite of “Deaf” (which is used inclusively, without the many gradations common to mainstream culture), is often used as a way of differentiating those who do not view the Deaf community as a linguistic minority, do not embrace Deaf values, history, language, mores, and sense of personal dignity as Deaf people do themselves. Among language minorities in the United States – for example, groups such as Mexicans, Koreans, Italians, Chinese, or Deaf users of sign language – the minority language group itself has a “we” or “insider” view of their cultural group as well as a “they” or “outsider” view of those who do not share the values of the group. So, in addition to using “hearing” to identify a person who can detect sounds, Deaf culture uses this term as a we and they distinction to show a difference in attitude between people who embrace the view of deaf people who use sign language as a language minority, and those who view deafness strictly from its pathological context.

This being the case, a single person could be described as hearing by one person and Deaf by another because the first person was thinking simply about the subject's sensitivity to sound whereas the other person was thinking, partially about the persons ability to rely on residual hearing, but also about their personal views, their identity, or perhaps their ignorance of cultural norms.

In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency or a Parliamentary committee.

A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and often less formal. In the course of litigation, hearings are conducted as oral arguments in support of motions, whether to resolve the case without further trial on a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment, or to decide discrete issues of law, such as the admissibility of evidence, that will determine how the trial proceeds. Limited evidence and testimony may also be presented in hearings to supplement the legal arguments.

In the United States, one aspect of the " due process revolution" is that many administrative decisions that were once made much less formally must now be preceded by a hearing. An important step in this development was the Supreme Court decision in Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970). There the Court held that an agency could not terminate a recipient's welfare benefits without a pre-termination hearing. The decision also illustrated that what constitutes a "hearing" can depend on the context. In Goldberg, the goal of a speedy decision was held to "justify the limitation of the pre-termination hearing to minimum procedural safeguards," which included such basic matters as the right to appear and to cross-examine witnesses, but did not include "a complete record and a comprehensive opinion".