Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
125 results found in deaf and hard of hearing.
- Crowdsourced Captioning (Crowd Captioning, Collaborative Captioning)
- Crowdsourced captioning is an approach to creating video captions or subtitles by distributing the work across multiple contributors rather than relying on a single professional captionist. This metho…
- Customizable Captioning (Personalized Captions, Adaptive Captioning)
- Captioning systems that allow users to modify how captions are displayed, including visual styling, content detail, and the representation of paralinguistic speech features such as emotion, loudness, …
- DHH (D/HH, Deaf and Hard of Hearing)
- An abbreviation for "Deaf and Hard of Hearing," encompassing the full spectrum of hearing differences from culturally Deaf individuals who use sign language as a primary language to people with varyin…
- Deaf (deaf, Big-D Deaf)
- A term with dual meaning in accessibility contexts: lowercase "deaf" refers to the audiological condition of having significant hearing loss, while uppercase "Deaf" refers to cultural identity and mem…
- Deaf Community (Deaf World, Signing Community)
- A cultural and linguistic community of people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and who share a common language (typically a sign language), cultural values, traditions, and social norms. The Deaf commu…
- Deaf Epistemology (Deaf Ways of Knowing)
- A body of theory and practice that recognizes Deaf communities as producers of distinct knowledge grounded in visual-spatial modalities, embodied interaction, sign language, and community experience. …
- Deaf Gain
- A reframing concept that positions Deafness not as a loss (hearing loss) but as a gain — emphasizing the unique contributions, perspectives, and capabilities that Deaf individuals and Deaf culture bri…
- Deaf Pedagogy
- An educational framework that centers Deaf students' visual and multimodal resources, resists deficit models of deafness, and embraces translanguaging and visual-relational classroom norms. Deaf pedag…
- Deaf Speech (Deaf Accent, Deaf Voice)
- Accented speech produced by many individuals who are deaf or significantly hard of hearing, resulting from incomplete acoustic feedback from their own voices. Because deaf speakers cannot fully hear t…
- Deaf Tech (Deaf-Centered Technology)
- A framework and design orientation for technologies created by, with, and centering Deaf communities. Deaf Tech emphasizes participatory design, cultural relevance, and alignment with Deaf epistemolog…
- Deaf digital library (Sign language archive, Deaf digital heritage)
- A collection of video content in sign languages that preserves and provides access to Deaf community knowledge, culture, experiences, and opinions. Video sharing platforms like YouTube function as de-…
- Deafhood
- A concept introduced by Paddy Ladd that reframes Deaf identity as a process of becoming and self-actualization rather than a medical condition to be fixed. Deafhood emphasizes the possibilities and ri…
- Electropalatography (EPG, Dynamic Palatography, Palatography)
- A technique for recording tongue-palate contact during speech using an artificial palate fitted with electrodes. When the tongue touches the palate, it completes a low-amperage electrical circuit that…
- Environmental Awareness (Situational Awareness, Environmental Sound Awareness)
- The perception and understanding of what is happening in one's physical surroundings, particularly through auditory cues. For Deaf and hard of hearing individuals, environmental awareness is often red…
- Extra-Speech Information (ESI, Paralinguistic Information)
- Aspects of spoken language beyond the words themselves that convey additional meaning, including how something is said rather than what is said. Examples include tone of voice (yelling, whispering), v…
- Fingerspelling (Manual alphabet, Dactylology)
- A method of spelling out words letter by letter using hand shapes, used within sign languages to represent proper nouns, technical terms, or words that lack a dedicated sign. Each letter of the writte…
- Freeze Frame (Video Thumbnail, ASL Freeze Frame)
- In the context of ASL video interfaces, a freeze frame is a static image captured at a recognizable moment of an ASL sign, used as a visual label or thumbnail for video content. Freeze frames allow De…
- Functional Literacy (Functional illiteracy)
- The level of reading and writing skill needed to handle everyday tasks — filling out forms, reading medication instructions, understanding a utility bill, using a web service. Adults below this thresh…
- Gaze Switching (Visual Attention Switching, Split Attention)
- The act of shifting visual focus between two or more information sources, such as between captions and presentation slides in a classroom, or between a sign language interpreter and a speaker. Gaze sw…
- German Sign Language (DGS, Deutsche Gebärdensprache)
- The sign language used by the deaf community in Germany, recognised as an independent natural language with its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary distinct from spoken German. Like other sign languag…