518 CHAPTER 11• Special Senses: Eyes and Ears
WORD ELEMENTS
This section introduces CFs related to the ear. Included are key suffixes; prefixes are defined in
the right-hand column as needed. Review the following table and pronounce each word in the
word analysis column aloud before you begin to work the frames.
Word Elements Meaning Word Analysis
Combining Forms
acous/o hearing acous/tic (ă-KOOS-tĭk): pertaining to sound or the sense of hearing
-tic:pertaining to
audi/o audi/o/meter (aw-dē-ŎM-ĕ-tĕr): instrument for testing hearing
-meter:instrument for measuring
audit/o audit/ory (AW-dĭ-tō-rē): pertaining to the sense of hearing
-ory:pertaining to
myring/o tympanic myring/o/tomy (mĭr-ĭn-GŎT-ō-mē): incision of the tympanic membrane
membrane -tomy:incision
(eardrum)
tympan/o tympan/o/plasty (tĭm-păn-ō-PLĂS-tē): surgical repair of the tympanic
membrane
-plasty:surgical repair
A tympanoplasty is any of several surgical procedures designed to cure a chronic in-
flammatory process in the middle ear or restore function to the sound-transmitting
mechanism of the middle ear.
ot/o ear ot/o/rrhea (ō-tō-RĒ-ă): inflammation of the ear with purulent discharge
-rrhea:discharge, flow
salping/o tube (usually salping/o/pharyng/eal (săl-pĭng-gō-fă-RĬN-jē-ăl): concerning the eustachian tube
fallopian or and pharynx
eustachian pharyng:pharynx (throat)
[auditory] -eal:pertaining to
tubes)
Suffix
-acusis hearing an/acusis(ăn-ă-KŪ-sĭs): total deafness
an-:without, notPronunciation Help Long sound a ̄in ra ̄te e ̄in re ̄birth ı ̄in ı ̄sle o ̄in o ̄ver u ̄in u ̄nite
Short sound a ̆in a ̆lone e ̆in e ̆ver ̆ıin ı ̆t o ̆in no ̆t u ̆in cu ̆tVisit the Medical Terminology Simplifiedonline resource center at DavisPlus for an
audio exercise of the terms in this table. It will help you master pronunciations
and meanings of the selected medical terms.