Final answer:
Hearing loss, or deafness, is the partial or complete lack of hearing. It can be congenital or due to conductive or sensorineural issues, affecting speech perception, especially at higher frequencies and conversations with women due to their higher-pitched voices.
Step-by-step explanation:
The impairment or inability to apprehend sound is typically referred to as hearing loss or deafness. This condition can vary from partial to complete lack of hearing. Congenital deafness is when someone is born without the ability to hear. Conductive hearing loss occurs when there is a problem with the transmission of sound to the cochlea, caused by various factors such as blockages, membrane punctures, ossicle issues, or fluid in the ear. On the other hand, sensorineural hearing loss is more common and arises from factors like aging, trauma, infections, medication effects, environmental noise exposure, tumors, and toxins.
Hearing loss can greatly affect the ability to perceive speech. For instance, someone with a 60-phon hearing loss may only perceive low frequencies and require louder-than-normal speech levels to comprehend, still finding speech indistinct, particularly from higher-pitched female voices. Moreover, people may be unaware of high-frequency hearing losses, commonly above 8000 Hz, as these frequencies are not critical for understanding conversations or music. The effects of such hearing impairments on speech perception are illustrated by the variation in phon levels.