Auditory dysfunction following a gunshot wound of the pons

A patient with a gunshot wound penetrating the right side of the brainstem at the level of the pons was given a test battery to evaluate peripheral hearing function and central auditory processing abilities. A month later, the left ear had a loss of sensitivity for high frequency tones, decreased speech discrimination, and excess tone decay. Two years later these deficits had resolved. However, a central auditory impairment remained, affecting the right ear score on Binaural Fusion and left ear scores on dichotic tasks and tonal pattern sequences.