Word Deafness – Case Report
Verhagen W. I. M. 1 , de Jong T. H. R. 1 , Prick M. J. J. 1 , de Bijl M. A. O. 2 , van Dijk R. 3
Dept. of Neurology, 2 Dept. of Neuropsychology, 3 Dept. of Radiology, Canisius-Wilhelmina
Hospital, Nijmegen, the Netherlands |
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Summary:
A 58-year-old left-handed man who had already mild Wernicke’s aphasia due to a brain infarction in
the temporo-parieto-occipital area of the right hemisphere, suffered a second infarction which involved
the temporo-parieto-occipital area of the left hemisphere. This resulted in cortical deafness which
developed into word deafness. The evolution of the cortical auditory disorder seemed to depend on the
degree of involvement of the auditory processing systems. Our neuropsychological investigations
confirmed the suggestion that word deafness should be considered a mixed phonetic analysis and
phonemic perception deficit.
Key words:
word deafness, aphasia, brain infarction, temporal lobe, auditory cortex
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