Hearing serves in the first place as a way of transmitting information, as a means of communication. Unimpaired hearing is thus not characterized by a normal threshold audiogram but by an unimpaired possibility of exchange of acoustic information, unimpared verbal communi- cation. By speech, its perception and understanding social interhuman relations are created. Therefore hearing exists above all as a factor of the creation and development of interhuman social relations. The state of hearing can be assessed either as regards quantity and quality of perception or with regard to its social communication function. Quality = implies the range of hearing (frequency) and quantity = the intensity. Both are examined by means of the threshold tone audiogram. The communication capacity of hearing is examined by verbal audiometry. The ihsocial adequacy of hearinglr is assessed by a calculation from the verbal audiogram and the result expresses the percentage by which the impaired hearing interferes with the communicating possibilitis of the patient. The result indicates immediately and sufficiently accurately the possibilities of the impai- red hearing in relation to communication, establishment of social relations and makes also accurate and unequivocal evaluation of the social communication gain after correction with a hearing aid possible.

        Key words: hearing, assessment, verbal audiometry.