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A case of cortical deafness

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Summary

At the age of 42 Lothar H. suffered a left-sided ischaemic brain lesion with transient aphasia, followed at the age of 49 by a right-sided ischemic infarction, which caused a continuous inability to understand spoken language and to identify tones and noises. He was still able to discriminate between single qualities of pure tones. The ERA-results showed the central acoustic pathways of the brain-stem to be intact. The occurrence of cortical deafness following bilateral lesions of the acoustic cortex and adjoining cortical centres supports the view that human auditory recognition is represented in both temporoparietal areas.

Zusammenfassung

Ein Mann erlitt mit 42 Jahren einen linksseitigen ischämischen Hirninsult mit vorübergehender Aphasie. Mit 49 Jahren erkrankte er durch eine rechtsseitige Infarzierung, die nun eine dauernde Unfähigkeit zum Verstehen gesprochener Sprache und zum Erkennen von Tönen oder Geräuschen hervorrief. Einfache alternative Unterscheidungen zwischen den Reizqualitäten reiner Töne konnte er noch treffen. ERA-Befunde zeigten, daß die zentralen Hörbahnen des Hirnstamms intakt waren. Diese Rindentaubheit im Gefolge bilateraler Läsionen des akustischen Cortex und angrenzender corticaler Zentren führt zu der Annahme, das auditive Erkennen sei beim Menschen beiderseits in den temporoparietalen Regionen repräsentiert.

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Adams, A.E., Rosenberger, K., Winter, H. et al. A case of cortical deafness. Arch. Psychiat. Nervenkr. 224, 213–220 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348003

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348003

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