hearing
Enable an AI agent to recognise a hearing, assess its procedural state, and identify permissible next steps for receiving and considering participants' accounts.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise a hearing, assess its procedural state, and identify permissible next steps for receiving and considering participants' accounts.
Hearing is the sensory process by which an organism transduces airborne or tissue-borne mechanical vibration into neural activity in the auditory pathway, yielding perception of sound (pitch, loudness, timbre, and location).
It can be Identify the hearing's remit and flag proposed topics that exceed it.; Prepare a session plan and participation checklist against recorded procedural requirements.; Track notice, attendance, representation, and opportunities to contribute.; Organise submitted material and distinguish submission from receipt, admission, and consideration where those distinctions apply.; Record directions, objections, interruptions, and unresolved procedural issues.; Assemble a hearing record and identify authorised next steps after adjournment or closure..
Distinguishing features
A defined matter is presented to an identified recipient acting in a hearing capacity, rather than participants merely exchanging information.
Participants have identifiable opportunities to put material or arguments before the recipient; reciprocal questioning may be permitted but is not assumed.
The activity has a procedural boundary, such as a convening instruction, agenda, notice, or recorded opening and closure.
Receiving and considering representations is distinguishable from any subsequent decision, even when both occur in the same session.
Classification depends on the activity's function and governing procedure, rather than the presence of speech, an audience, or the word 'hearing' in its title.
Scope
+ The matter to be heard, the hearing's purpose, and the receiving person or body
+ Opportunities and conditions for affected people to participate
+ Submission, presentation, questioning, and consideration of material
+ Sessions, procedural directions, interruptions, and completion conditions
+ The hearing record and its relationship to subsequent decisions
- Auditory perception, hearing ability, and hearing impairment
- The complete case, dispute, application, or investigation containing the hearing
- Independent truth or authenticity assessments of underlying evidence
- The substantive decision, judgment, or enforcement process
- General meetings, interviews, and consultations without a defined hearing function
Characteristics
- Hearing purpose
- Locally defined purpose, such as receiving evidence, hearing argument, reviewing a matter, or receiving public representations Determines what participation and material are relevant without assuming every hearing resolves a dispute.
- Matter being heard
- Linked matter and explicitly identified issues Separates the hearing from its containing case and limits what it may address.
- Receiving authority
- Person or body receiving representations, with the recorded basis and limits of its role Identifies who can direct the hearing and what powers require verification.
- Procedural state
- Proposed, scheduled, in progress, adjourned, closed, cancelled, or unknown; additional states defined by the applicable procedure Distinguishes actions available before, during, and after the hearing.
- Participation role
- Participant linked to a locally defined role and associated permissions Prevents attendance from being mistaken for permission to speak, question, represent another person, or direct proceedings.
- Hearing format
- In person, remote, hybrid, written if recognised by the applicable procedure, or unknown Affects how participation, receipt of material, and procedural completion can be established.
- Access conditions
- Public, restricted, closed, mixed by segment, or unknown, with separately recorded recording and publication permissions Controls attendance and disclosure without equating public access with unrestricted reuse.
- Time available for representations
- Minutes per participant, issue, or session, where an allocation exists Supports scheduling and identifies whether a planned opportunity to be heard was actually available.
- Record completeness
- Unassessed, partial, complete against specified requirements, or disputed Indicates whether later users can reconstruct what occurred and identify missing or contested portions.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.hearing
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 28 questions.
Matter and remit Identifies why the hearing exists and what its recipient is empowered to hear.
An agent must distinguish the hearing's permitted work from the broader matter and from powers held elsewhere.
Hearing function
Establishes the hearing's purpose and relationship to a surrounding process.
Defined matter and purpose
Record the issues presented and whether the hearing receives evidence, argument, representations, or another specified contribution.
- What matter and specific issues is this hearing convened to address? definition
- What distinguishes this hearing's task from the surrounding case, investigation, or decision process? boundary
Authority and procedure
Captures the basis and limits of the receiving body's procedural role.
Applicable hearing mandate
Record who receives the hearing, which procedure applies, and what remains unverified about that authority.
- Which instrument, appointment, agreement, or recorded instruction establishes this hearing and its receiving authority? provenance
- Which procedural actions may the recipient take, and which require another person or body? action
Opportunity to be heard Captures who may contribute and whether the hearing makes that contribution practicable.
A hearing cannot be assessed through attendance alone; an agent needs to understand participants' actual opportunities and constraints.
Roles and notice
Identifies participants and the information provided to enable their participation.
Participant position
Record each participant's role, basis for participation, representation arrangements, and notice status.
- Who may attend, speak, submit material, question others, or act through a representative, and on what recorded basis? boundary
- What notice of the issues, arrangements, and preparation requirements was provided to each relevant participant? provenance
Effective participation
Tracks practical access to the opportunity to contribute.
Participation barriers and support
Record requested support, participation failures, and the procedural response without inferring that silence means consent.
- What language, accessibility, representation, or connection support is needed for each participant to follow and contribute? measurement
- What action is authorised if absence, a failed connection, or another barrier prevents a participant from being heard? action
Representations and examination Tracks what is put before the hearing and how it may be tested or answered.
An agent must distinguish the existence of material from its procedural status and avoid treating an untested statement as an established conclusion.
Material before the hearing
Connects statements, documents, and other contributions to their origin and procedural treatment.
Submission and treatment
Record who supplied each contribution, which issue it concerns, and whether it was received, excluded, deferred, or otherwise treated.
- Who supplied this statement or item, when, and in relation to which hearing issue? provenance
- What recorded direction or applicable rule determines how this material may be used in the hearing? boundary
Questioning and response
Captures opportunities to clarify, challenge, or answer contributions.
Testing and reply opportunities
Record the permitted forms of questioning and reply, their use, and any restrictions or unresolved requests.
- Who may question a speaker or respond to a contribution, through what procedure and within what limits? action
- Which requests to question, clarify, or reply were granted, refused, deferred, or left unresolved? provenance
Session conduct Represents how the hearing proceeds across sessions and how procedural difficulties are handled.
The agent needs to recognise whether the hearing can proceed and distinguish a pause, an adjournment, and final closure.
Sitting and sequence
Tracks sessions, issue order, time allocations, and continuity.
Session progress
Record which issues and contributions have been reached, what remains, and the current session state.
- Which planned issues and participant contributions have been heard, and which remain outstanding? measurement
- What recorded conditions must be satisfied before opening, resuming, or closing this hearing? action
Directions and objections
Captures procedural interventions and their effect on the opportunity to be heard.
Procedural intervention
Record requests, objections, directions, and interruptions with their reasons and current disposition.
- What procedural issue was raised, by whom, and what response and reason were recorded? provenance
- Does the recorded response permit continuation, require an adjustment, or leave a condition unresolved? action
Record and disposition Captures the durable account of the hearing and what its ending makes possible.
Later action depends on knowing what was heard, what the record supports, and whether the hearing has actually finished.
Hearing record
Identifies the recognised record, gaps, corrections, and access conditions.
Record authority and access
Record which minutes, transcript, recording, or other account serves as the hearing record and how it may be corrected or disclosed.
- Which artefacts constitute the recognised hearing record, and what omissions or disputed passages are known? provenance
- Who may inspect, correct, copy, or publish each part of the record under the recorded access conditions? action
Closure and handoff
Separates the hearing's procedural disposition from substantive outcomes.
Ending and outstanding work
Record whether the hearing was closed, adjourned, or cancelled, together with pending contributions and links to subsequent action.
- What establishes the hearing's current disposition, and are further representations or sessions still permitted or required? provenance
- What next action follows from that disposition, who is authorised to take it, and which decision belongs to a separate model? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Air-conduction hearing (outer/middle ear path)
- Bone-conduction hearing (skull-to-cochlea path)
- Peripheral (cochlear) hearing
- Central auditory processing (brainstem to cortex)
- Binaural / spatial hearing
- Speech hearing (intelligibility in quiet and noise)
- Normal hearing versus hearing loss phenotypes (conductive, sensorineural, mixed)
- Residual hearing (usable remaining audition, e.g. after cochlear implantation)
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q160289 - hearing (sense)
- MeSH - D006309 - Hearing
- Gene Ontology - GO:0007605 - sensory perception of sound
- UMLS CUI - C0018767 - Hearing
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- ISO 226:2023 Acoustics - Normal equal-loudness-level contours (ISO)
- ISO 389 series - Reference zero for the calibration of audiometric equipment (ISO)
- ISO 8253 series - Audiometric test methods (ISO)
- ISO 1999:2013 Acoustics - Estimation of noise-induced hearing loss (ISO)
- ISO 7029:2017 Acoustics - Statistical distribution of hearing thresholds related to age and gender (ISO)
- IEC 60645 series - Electroacoustics - Audiometric equipment (IEC)
- ANSI/ASA S3.6 Specification for Audiometers (ASA/ANSI)
- OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95 Occupational noise exposure (United States)
- EU Directive 2003/10/EC - minimum health and safety requirements regarding exposure of workers to noise (European Union)
- WHO World report on hearing (2021) and related WHO hearing-care guidance
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Clinical pure-tone and speech audiometry to grade hearing and fit hearing aids or cochlear implants
- Newborn and school hearing screening programmes
- Occupational audiometric surveillance in noisy industries
- Product and room acoustics (loudspeakers, headphones, classrooms, concert halls) designed against human hearing contours
- Audio codecs, hearing-aid DSP, and spatial-audio rendering that exploit masking and binaural cues
- Legal and insurance assessment of noise-induced hearing loss and disability
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Hearing threshold (pure-tone, air conduction) - about −10 to 120 (normal adult speech-frequency PTA typically ≤20-25) - dB HL
- Audible frequency range (young human) - about 20 to 20 000 - Hz
- Sound pressure level at the ear - 0 (threshold of hearing at 1 kHz ≈ 20 µPa) to 120-140 (pain/damage risk) - dB SPL
- Loudness level - 0 to ~120 - phon
- Speech recognition / discrimination - 0 to 100 - %
- Interaural time difference (horizontal localisation cue) - about 0 to 700 - µs
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Conductive, sensorineural, or mixed hearing loss reducing threshold and/or discrimination
- Noise-induced hearing loss and acoustic trauma from high SPL or impulse noise
- Ototoxicity (e.g. aminoglycosides, cisplatin, loop diuretics)
- Presbycusis (age-related high-frequency loss)
- Tinnitus and hyperacusis accompanying damaged hearing
- Central auditory processing disorder with normal peripheral thresholds
- Missed alarms, unheard speech, and social isolation as safety and public-health consequences
- Iatrogenic over-amplification from poorly fitted hearing devices
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Normality cut-offs differ: WHO often treats PTA >20 dB HL as hearing loss; many occupational and older clinical schemes used 25 dB HL.
- Occupational exposure limits and exchange rates differ (e.g. OSHA 90 dBA / 5 dB exchange vs EU/NIOSH-style 85 dBA / 3 dB).
- Screening programmes, device reimbursement, and sign-language versus spoken-language intervention norms vary by country.
- Some languages lack a clean everyday split between 'hearing' (sense) and 'listening' (attention); clinical English keeps that split.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Listening - Hearing is sensory transduction and detection of sound; listening is the attentional/cognitive use of that input. Normal hearing can coexist with poor listening, and vice versa in aided listeners.
- Sound / acoustics - Sound is the physical wave (pressure in a medium); hearing is the organism's sensory response. A sound can exist with no hearer; a hearing threshold is a biological measurement, not a property of the wave.
- Hearing loss / deafness - Hearing is the function; hearing loss is a deficit of that function graded on audiometric and functional scales. Deafness as identity or complete absence of usable audition is not the same object as the sense itself.
- Balance / vestibular sense - Shares the inner-ear labyrinth and some pathologies, but vestibular function is head-motion and gravity sensing, tested with vHIT/calorics/posturography rather than pure-tone audiometry.
- Auditory processing / language comprehension - Comprehension can fail with intact peripheral hearing (APD, aphasia). Separate with audiogram plus speech-in-noise and language tests.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of hearing this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- World report on hearing - Public-health definition of hearing and hearing loss, prevalence, and recommended measurement/screening practice.
- ISO 226:2023 Acoustics - Normal equal-loudness-level contours - Standardised human loudness perception as a function of frequency and sound-pressure level.
- ISO 389-1 Acoustics - Reference zero for the calibration of audiometric equipment - Part 1: Reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels for pure tones and supra-aural earphones - Reference zero (0 dB HL) and the pure-tone audiometric scale used in clinical hearing measurement.
- GO:0007605 sensory perception of sound - Canonical biological definition of hearing as sensory perception of sound; taxonomic identifier for the process.
What the second pass must settle
- Does vr.tr.hearing denote a procedural hearing, as provisionally assumed here, or an act of auditory perception or attentive listening?
- Which hearing contexts does the registry intend to include: judicial, administrative, legislative, disciplinary, public, or others?
- Can a wholly written process qualify as a hearing within this registry, and what distinguishes it from ordinary submission review?
- Does registry identity attach to each sitting or to the entire hearing across adjourned and resumed sessions?
- Which neighbouring registered models own procedural rights, evidentiary assessments, and decisions, and does an existing world model already cover this concept?