Hearing defective behind area in courtyards (5)
I believe the answer is:
atria
'courtyards' is the definition.
(atrium is a kind of courtyard)
'hearing defective behind area' is the wordplay.
'hearing' becomes 'trial' (I've seen this before).
'defective' means to remove the last letter (the word is broken and incomplete).
'behind' says to put letters next to each other.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'trial' with its final letter taken away is 'tria'.
'tria' after 'a' is 'ATRIA'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for atria that I've seen before include "Roofed central courts" , "Upper chambers of the heart" , "Open courts of Roman houses" , "Covered courts" , "entrances" .)