from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Deafness \Deaf"ness\, n.
1. Incapacity of perceiving sounds; the state of the organs
which prevents the impression which constitute hearing;
want of the sense of hearing.
[1913 Webster]
2. Unwillingness to hear; voluntary rejection of what is
addressed to the understanding.
[1913 Webster]
{Nervous deafness}, a variety of deafness dependent upon
morbid change in some portion of the nervous system,
especially the auditory nerve.
[1913 Webster]