A case of Pure Word Deafness

J Korean Neurol Assoc > Volume 13(2); 1995 > Article

Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 1995;13(2): 353-361.

순수어농 일례

김병조, 박민규, 박건우, 이대희

고려대학교 신경과

A case of Pure Word Deafness

Byung Jo Kim, M.D., Min Kyu Park M.D., Kun Woo Park, M.D., Dae Hie Lee, M.D.

Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Korea university

Abstract

Pure word deafness is a cluucal syndrome included among the aphasias and is marked by complete deafness of sudden onset with conserved ability to understand and read the written word and with no speech disorders. We report the case of 55year-old female in whom pure word deafness developed after episode of stroke. Neuroimaging procedures, that is : computed tomography scan and MRI, revealed the presence of hemorrhagic lesion in right putamen, mainly the white matter of the temporal and parietal lobes and large open schizencephaly in left temporoparietal area. Neurophysiological investigations (electroencephalogram and brainstem auditory evoked potentials) were also studied. It is proposed that pure word deafness which might be caused by a impairment of the language function possibly transferred to the nondominant, right hemisphere due to congenital dominant hemisphere lesion.