Rehabilitation for Pure Word Deafness and Returning to Work : A Case Report

Abstract

We report a 47-year-old right-handed male patient with pure word deafness after suffering an intracerebral hemorrhage. He had been working as a high school teacher before the onset of his stroke. He was emergently admitted to our hospital due to left putaminal hemorrhage and treated conservatively after admission. The patient's neurological findings showed that although his auditory comprehension was severely impaired, he was still able to communicate using written language. Pure-tone audiometry didn't detect any sensorineural hearing impairment. After the diagnosis of pure word deafness was clinically made, we educated the patient and his family, as well as the associated medical staff at our department, about this condition so that they could understand his pathological situation. In addition, we introduced a rehabilitation program for lip-reading and showed him a technique for using articulatory voice production in usual conversation. As a result of our attempts, he developed the ability to communicate using lip-reading skills after 2 months of rehabilitation and successfully returned to his previous work because of the communicative competence he acquired. We also make some proposals for helping other patients with auditory agnosia to return not only to their regular daily activities but also to return to gainful employment, as patients with this condition seem to have special difficulties benefiting from the present welfare service system in Japan.