auditory aphasia
A patient with auditory aphasia struggles to follow a doctor's spoken instructions.
Noun: * A specific type of language comprehension disorder: Auditory aphasia is a neurological condition characterized by a significant difficulty in understanding spoken words and sentences. The key characteristic is that this impairment is not due to a problem with hearing itself (the ears function normally), but rather with the brain's ability to process and make sense of the sounds of language.
This is a clinical, medical term used primarily in neurology, speech-language pathology, and cognitive science. * It describes a symptom or diagnosis resulting from brain injury, typically in a specific area of the brain (often Wernicke's area or its connections). * It is used to distinguish this language comprehension deficit from other types of aphasia (e.g., Broca's aphasia, which primarily affects speech production) and from simple hearing loss.
- After the stroke, the patient was diagnosed with auditory aphasia; he could hear people talking clearly but could not understand what they were saying.
- The main symptom of auditory aphasia is fluent but often nonsensical speech, because the person cannot monitor their own language output.
- Therapists use specific strategies to help individuals with auditory aphasia improve their comprehension of spoken language.
- The condition is also known professionally as Wernicke's aphasia or receptive aphasia, which are more precise synonyms within the field.
- It is often contrasted with conduction aphasia (where repetition is impaired) and global aphasia (where both comprehension and production are severely affected).
- Aphasia (n): The broader category of language disorders caused by brain damage.
- Wernicke's aphasia (n): A direct synonym, named after the neurologist who identified the associated brain region.
- Receptive aphasia (n): A descriptive synonym focusing on the impaired "reception" of language.
- Aphasic (adj/n): Relating to or suffering from aphasia.
- Wernicke's aphasia
- Receptive aphasia
- Sensory aphasia (an older, less common term)
- "Word deafness": An informal, non-clinical term sometimes used to describe the phenomenon, though it is not a precise medical synonym.
A patient with auditory aphasia struggles to follow a doctor's spoken instructions.
- an impairment in understanding spoken language that is not attributable to hearing loss