audiometer

noun

au·​di·​om·​e·​ter ˌȯ-dē-ˈä-mə-tər How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
: an instrument used in measuring the acuity of hearing
audiometric
ˌȯ-dē-ō-ˈme-trik How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
adjective
audiometry
ˌȯ-dē-ˈä-mə-trē How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
noun

Examples of audiometer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In 1987 Nielsen launched their own People Meter sample of 2,000 households replacing their audiometer/diary methodology. —Brad Adgate, Forbes, 1 Sep. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Latin audī-, stem of audīre "to hear" + -o- + -meter — more at audible entry 1

Note: The word audiometer was used for a device developed by the British inventor David Edward Hughes (1831-1900), described by him in "On an Inductions-Current Balance, and Experimental Researches made therewith," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, no. 196, May 15, 1879, vol. 29, pp. 56-65. Though the word is used by Hughes (p. 58), it was coined by the British physician Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-96), who concludes a report following Hughes' article in the same journal ("Some Researches with Professor Hughes' New Instrument for the Measurement of Hearing; the Audiometer," pp. 65-70) with the following: "… the world of science … is under a deep debt of gratitude to Professor Hughes for his simple and beautiful instrument, which I have christened the audimeter, or less correctly but more euphoniously, the audiometer." Presumably Richardson felt that -i- was a more Latinate linking vowel than -o- following a Latin element, though the precedents in classical Latin for 4th-conjugation verbs in compounds are limited (but cf. the derivatives fulcīmen, fulcīmentum "prop, support" from fulcīre "to support" and the hapax in Petronius fulcipedia—with -ī-?—"one supported by a foot"). But -o- as a universal linking element in Greco-Latin compounds was most likely becoming general usage in the 19th century.

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of audiometer was in 1879

Dictionary Entries Near audiometer

audiology

audiometer

audiometrically

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Audiometer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/audiometer. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

audiometer

noun
au·​di·​om·​e·​ter ˌȯd-ē-ˈäm-ət-ər How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
: an instrument used to measure the keenness of hearing
audiometric
ˌȯd-ē-ō-ˈme-trik How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
adjective
audiometry
ˌȯd-ē-ˈäm-ə-trē How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
noun

Medical Definition

audiometer

noun
au·​di·​om·​e·​ter ˌȯd-ē-ˈäm-ət-ər How to pronounce audiometer (audio)
: an instrument used in measuring the acuity of hearing

called also acoumeter

More from Merriam-Webster on audiometer

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about audiometer

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