Auditory Agnosia Analysis of a Case With Bilateral Subcortical Lesions

Abstract

We report a case of typical auditory agnosia. It is unique in that the clinical picture began with generalized auditory agnosia for verbal and nonverbal sounds and changed, over a period of two months, to a restricted auditory agnosia, confined to the recognition of nonverbal sounds. The lesions, confirmed by CT scanning and MRI, were subcortical bilaterally, without evidence of cortical damage, and have not previously been described. The results of audiological studies on temporal discrimination were similar to those described for bilateral temporal lobe lesions. The relationships between click intervals and the threshold to detect sound, and between numbers of clicks and the threshold, were also examined. We observed a tendency for the threshold to decline as the number of clicks was increased or the interval between two clicks was shortened. These phenomena are similar to temporal summation in cellular neurophysiology and we speculate that this phenomenon is an important factor in the auditory disturbances shown by the present case.

A Case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Presenting with Auditory Agnosia as an Initial Manifestation

“…On May 31, atrophy of the temporal lobes and cerebellum was observed (b). [10,11], and insulae [12]. The auditory agnosia seen in the present patient might be related to atrophy of the temporal lobes as demonstrated by the brain MRIs performed on March 31 and May 31.…”

The Neuropsychology of Autobiographical Memory

“…We therefore eliminated our third criterion, thereby broadening our search and adding another 27 cases of auditory agnosia (Albert and Bear, 1957;Baddeley and Wilson, 1993;Buchtel and Stewart, 1989;Chocholle et al, 1975;Clarke et al, 2000;Engelien et al, 1995;Fujii et al, 1990;Fung et al, 2000;Gazzaniga et al, 1974;Godefroy et al, 1995;Goldstein et al, 1975;Jerger et al, 1972;Kazui et al, 1990;Lambert et al, 1989;Metz-Lutz and Dahl, 1984;Motomura et al, 1986;Nové-Josserand et al, 1998;Oppenheimer and Newcombe, 1978;Reinhold, 1950;Roberts et al, 1987;Saffran et al, 1976;Spreen et al, 1965;Takahashi et al, 1992;von Stockert, 1982;Wohlfart et al, 1952). These cases included patients who had verbal auditory agnosia but could still speak; these patients are analogous to HJA, the aforementioned visual agnosic who could draw flowers.…”

What and Where in human audition: selective deficits following focal hemispheric lesions

“…The ability to recognize environmental sounds was found to be deficient following right hemispheric lesions (Spreen et al 1965;Assal and Aubert 1979;Fujii et al 1990;Clarke et al 1996). Combined deficits of recognition of verbal and non-verbal sounds were reported in cases of bilateral (Albert et al 1972;Motomura et al 1986;Mendez and Geehan 1988;Buchtel and Stewart 1989) or unilateral left lesions (Pasquier et al 1991;Clarke et al 2000). Right hemispheric specialization for sound recognition was suggested by studies on dichotic listening in normal subjects; left ear advantage has been demonstrated for environmental sounds, but also for nonverbal vocalization, emotional intonation and timbre (for review see, e.g., Bradshaw and Nettleton 1981).…”