Speech perception in an individual with verbal auditory agnosia

Abstract

Verbal auditory agnosia or pure word deafness is a clinical disorder when an individual is able to comprehend written language but unable to comprehend spoken language in the absence of hearing difficulties. It is due to brain damage involving the primary auditory cortex or connections between the thalamus and this area. Although it is a well-known fact that an individual suffering from unilateral auditory agnosia is unable to comprehend speech, it is not clear whether his/her speech acoustic processing as a whole or different aspects of this processing are affected. In an attempt to examine this issue, speech perception ability was tested in an individual who presented with typical clinical behaviors of unilateral verbal agnosia as a result of brain damage involving cortical and subcortical white matter of the left temporal lobe. A series of speech discrimination and identification tests were conducted at two time points: 1 week post onset and 1 month post onset. The testing results indicated that aspects of speech acoustic processing may be differentially affected in unilateral verbal agnosia. [Work supported by Rush University and Northwestern University.]