A case of deaf-mutism as an expression of pure word deafness: neuroimaging and electrophysiological data
M Arias1, I Requena, M Ventura
1Services of Neurology, Department of Medicine of the University of Santiago de Compostela, SpainNeuroimaging of the Hospital de Conxo, Department of Medicine of the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Abstract:
We report a case of pure word deafness, clinically expressed as deaf-mutism in a 17-year-old girl, who was affected from encephalitis when she was 18 months old and hadn't acquired language skills. Actually, physical examination revealed buccolingual apraxia and absence of spontaneous speech, auditory comprehension, repetition and denomination, whereas perception of non-verbal sounds was preserved. The seven waves of brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAER) were present with normal latencies; middle latency responses (MLR) were also normal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed bilateral temporoparietal lesions. This case proves that lesions which may give rise to word deafness, when they occur in prelingual age, can determine a peculiar deafmutism clinical picture.
