Deafness
Pronunciation : Deaf"ness
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : 1. Incapacity of perceiving sounds; the state of the organs which prevents the impression which constitute hearing; want of the sense of hearing.
2. Unwillingness to hear; voluntary rejection of what is addressed to the understanding. Nervous deafness, a variety of deafness dependent upon morbid change in some portion of the nervous system, especially the auditory nerve.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913