adrenaline: A hormone produced by glands (adrenal) when someone is stressed by fear, anger or anxiety. It can make the heart beat faster and allow muscles to perform better than normal. Adrenaline is part of the body’s “fight or flight” response to stress. It can briefly help someone run faster or temporarily boost the performance of muscles (as for lifting weights).
attention: The phenomenon of focusing mental resources on a specific object or event.
audio: Having to do with sound.
audiology: The field of science and medicine concerned with hearing. An audiologist is a health care professional who works in this field.
auditory nerve: The nerve that carries electrical signals that represent sound from the ear to the brain.
average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group.
blood pressure: The force exerted against vessel walls by blood moving through the body. Usually this pressure refers to blood moving specifically through the body’s arteries. That pressure allows blood to circulate to our heads and keeps the fluid moving so that it can deliver oxygen to all tissues. Blood pressure can vary based on physical activity and the body’s position. High blood pressure can put someone at risk for heart attacks or stroke. Low blood pressure may leave people dizzy, or faint, as the pressure becomes too low to supply enough blood to the brain.
blood vessel: A tubular structure that carries blood through the tissues and organs.
cardiovascular: An adjective that refers to things that affect or are part of the heart and the system of vessels and arteries that move blood through the heart and tissues of the body.
chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.
colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member
cortisol: Also known as hydrocortisone, this is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It can serve as the body’s main warning that it is under stress. It helps regulate a wide range of body functions, including how we process the energy in food, create memories and control inflammation.
decibel: A measurement scale used for the intensity of sounds that can be picked up by the human ear. It starts at zero decibels (dB), a sound hardly audible to people with good hearing. A sound 10 times louder would be 10 dB. Because the scale is logarithmic, a sound 100 times louder than 0 dB would be 20 dB; one that’s 1,000 times louder than 0 dB would be described as 30 dB.
depression: A low spot, such as in a field or the surface of a rock. (in medicine) A mental illness characterized by persistent sadness and apathy. Many times, these feelings seem to be triggered by nothing; they can appear out of nowhere.
diabetes: A disease where the body either makes too little of the hormone insulin (known as type 1 disease) or ignores the presence of too much insulin when it is present (known as type 2 diabetes).
disorder: (in medicine) A condition where the body does not work appropriately, leading to what might be viewed as an illness. This term can sometimes be used interchangeably with disease.
distraction: Any event or situation that draws someone’s attention away from whatever had been his or her main focus. Distractions can be external events, such as sounds or sights; or they can be internal events, such as thoughts or emotions.
environment: The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest).
factor: Something that plays a role in a particular condition or event; a contributor.
hair cells: These are the sensory receptors inside the ears of vertebrates that allow them to hear. These actually resemble stubby hairs.
high school: A designation for grades nine through 12 in the U.S. system of compulsory public education. High-school graduates may apply to colleges for further, advanced education.
hormone: (in zoology and medicine) A chemical produced in a gland and then carried in the bloodstream to another part of the body. Hormones control many important body activities, such as growth. Hormones act by triggering or regulating chemical reactions in the body.
insight: The ability to gain an accurate and deep understanding of a situation just by thinking about it, instead of working out a solution through experimentation.
link: A connection between two people or things.
middle school: A designation for grades six through eight in the U.S. educational system. It comes immediately prior to high school. Some school systems break their age groups slightly different, including sixth grade as part of elementary school and then referring to grades seven and eight as “junior” high school.
misophonia: Meaning “hatred of sound,” it’s a condition affecting some people that causes them to become highly anxious or annoyed by certain sounds, especially the sounds of eating, drinking or breathing.
nerve: A long, delicate fiber that transmits signals across the body of an animal. An animal’s backbone contains many nerves, some of which control the movement of its legs or fins, and some of which convey sensations such as hot, cold or pain.
neuroscientist: Someone who studies the structure or function of the brain and other parts of the nervous system.
pediatrician: A doctor who works in the field of medicine, pediatrics, that has to do with children and especially child health.
policies: Plans, stated guidelines or agreed-upon rules of action to apply in certain specific circumstances. For instance, a school could have a policy on when to permit snow days or how many excused absences it would allow a student in a given year.
psychologist: A scientist or mental-health professional who studies the mind, especially in relation to actions and behaviors. Some work with people. Others may conduct experiments with animals (usually rodents) to test how their minds respond to different stimuli and conditions.
risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)
silicone: Heat-resistant substances that can be used in many different ways, including the rubber-like materials that provide a waterproof seal around windows and in aquariums. Some silicones serve as grease-like lubricants in cars and trucks. Most silicones, a type of molecule known as a polymer, are built around long chains of silicon and oxygen atoms.
stress: (in biology) A factor — such as unusual temperatures, movements, moisture or pollution — that affects the health of a species or ecosystem. (in psychology) A mental, physical, emotional or behavioral reaction to an event or circumstance (stressor) that disturbs a person or animal’s usual state of being or places increased demands on a person or animal; psychological stress can be either positive or negative.
system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.
tinnitus: An uncontrolled and non-stop ringing or buzzing in the ears, usually triggered by damage to the auditory nerve from exposure to loud noise. It can be short-lived, lasting hours or a day. In many instances, however, it may become permanent.
World Health Organization: An agency of the United Nations, established in 1948, to promote health and to control communicable diseases. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The United Nations relies on the WHO for providing international leadership on global health matters. This organization also helps shape the research agenda for health issues and sets standards for pollutants and other things that could pose a risk to health. WHO also regularly reviews data to set policies for maintaining health and a healthy environment.