Pure word deafness in two patients with subcortical lesions

We report two patients with pure word deafness (PWD) with tumour in the III ventricle region with obstructive hydrocephalus. A diagnosis of PWD was made in these two patients in view of impaired verbal comprehension in the presence of adequate hearing, intact acoustic stapedius reflex and well preserved environmental sound perception. Return of verbal comprehension following the radiation therapy observed is probably due to the reduction of the tumour mass and the release of thalamocortical auditory pathways from its compressive effect. Our findings support the hypothesis of the presence of discrete auditory pathways for mediation of verbal and non-verbal stimuli independently. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.