A case of cortical amusia in a patient with musical ability
Estañol, B.; Méndez, A.
Revista de Neurologia 26(152): 612-615
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0210-0010 PMID: 9796016 Document Number: 494015
A women who had previously had musical ability presented with bilateral embolic damage to both superior temporal convolutions. For the first few days, she had complete cortical deafness with reception aphasia. This evolved to a slight Wernicke's aphasia and reception amusia. The amusia was characterized by inability to understand lyrics and tunes, and in this patient has persisted a year and a half later. It is postulated that the inability to understand the words of songs is due to damage to the first left temporal convolution, whilst the amusia of tunes is due to damage to the first right temporal convolution.