Definition of "hearing" []

• The sense by which sound is perceived; the capacity to hear. (noun)
• Range of audibility; earshot. (noun)
• An opportunity to be heard. (noun)
• Law A preliminary examination of an accused person. (noun)
• Law The trial of an equity case. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The organ of hearing is injured _at its peripheral extremity_, or else the acusticus in its course; then occurs _difficulty of hearing_ or"
• ""The _cause of sound_, that which, moved by the shock or the vibrations of bodies, transmits to the organ of hearing the impression which it receives, penetrates everywhere, traverses all the media, and even the mass of the densest bodies: from this it results that every animal which makes a part of a plan of organization to which _hearing_ is essential, has always occasion to exercise this organ in whatever situation it lives."
• "Almost every major piece of disability legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, incorporated the term hearing impaired."