A case of persistent cortical deafness: clinical, neurophysiologic, and neuropathologic observations

A 61-year-old man became deaf after the second of two cerebral infarctions which successively involved the temporal and adjacent cortices. He remained completely deaf until death 27 months later. Click stimulation demonstrated normal short-latency potentials, middle-latency responses better developed to stimulation of the right than of the left ear, and absent long-latency potentials. Neuropathologic examination showed cystic infarctions involving both transverse temporal gyri and adjacent cortical areas with preservation of the brainstem auditory nuclei. Persistent deafness can result from bilateral lesions involving the auditory and adjoining cortices.