Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Deafness
Deaf′ness
,Noun.
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.