Soul deafness, also called bark deafness, is the colloquial name for auditory agnosia or acoustic agnosia. Characteristic of this condition is that affected individuals hear sounds or spoken words but cannot associate them or grasp their meaning.
What is soul deafness?
Agnosia is a disorder of cognition. The processing of perceptions is disturbed, although the sense organs themselves are completely intact. The damage affects the respective brain area, in the case of auditory agnosia the auditory center. Depending on the degree, different types of mental deafness are distinguished:
- Those suffering from verbal auditory agnosia (word deafness) are unable to understand spoken words or can do so only with great difficulty. Affected individuals perceive speech only as noise. They therefore lack the ability to grasp the meaning of words. The own language ability is not limited in this case.
- People with noise diagnosis can not match everyday or environmental sounds, whereas their speech comprehension is unimpaired. For example, they can no longer recognize engine sounds or the clink of a set of keys. This also applies to the direction and distance from which the sounds come.
- Affective auditory agnosia concerns the perception of the age, gender or state of mind of the interlocutor. Only the factual content of a message is recorded. Patients affected by generalized mental deafness or generalized auditory agnosia completely lack the ability to assign and understand sounds and spoken words.
Causes
Soul deafness can be either congenital or the result of cranial injury or disease. In the case of congenital soul deafness, there is a risk of misinterpretation: a child who suffers from acoustic agnosia from birth does not learn to speak, read and write, or learns only inadequately. It is also often unable to follow instructions because it does not understand their meaning at all. These limitations may lead to the child being classified as hard of hearing, deaf or even mentally retarded. Older children or adults may experience bleeding into the brain as a result of an accident. High blood pressure and arteriosclerosis can also lead to a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, which is a bursting of blood vessels in the brain. Other possible causes include meningitis, stroke, brain tumor or severe mental illness. Damage to the auditory cortex (= auditory center), which is located in the two posterior temporal lobes and is barely the size of a thumbnail, causes the brain to be unable to interpret the acoustic stimuli arriving there, or to interpret them inadequately.
Symptoms, complaints, and signs
Speech disorders in children such as stuttering, poluttering, or stammering, as well as hyperactivity, poor contact, or an attention deficit, may be signs of congenital auditory agnosia. When an adult whose hearing and responsiveness were previously completely normal suddenly stops responding or responds inappropriately to speech or sounds, it indicates auditory deafness. Close people may notice a change in behavior after an accident or serious brain disease. The affected person no longer sings along when his favorite song is on the radio. He may notice himself that he suddenly can no longer perceive music. He is no longer able to recognize familiar people by their voice. Or he has lost the ability to infer the state of his counterpart from the sound of his voice.
Diagnosis and course of the disease
Soul deafness can be diagnosed with the help of a pure tone audiogram and a speech audiogram, respectively. In the tone audiogram, the conduction of sound via the outer and middle ear to the inner ear (= air conduction) and the transmission of sound waves via the skull bone (= bone conduction) are examined. The speech audiogram is concerned with understanding words and numbers and reproducing what is heard.
Complications
Mental deafness can result in various complications. Lesions in the brain are considered to trigger complications, resulting in irreparable functional damage at multiple levels. Crucial to the question of possible complications are the severity and cause of the damage.A disturbance of the motor function is common, as is a disturbance of the processing of sensory impressions in the brain. A disturbed sense of balance can result in serious falls with corresponding injuries. The ability to see may be weakened or no longer present. This makes the other symptoms seem even more severe. The agnostics can no longer cope in society without help. Their intellectual abilities are greatly diminished due to agnosia. A further complication lies in possible consequential damages that are triggered due to the agnosia. Autotopagnosia prevents many sufferers from locating physical pain or injuries they have sustained. Pre-existing medical conditions such as a diabetic foot may be exacerbated as a result. A second complicating factor of soul deafness is the emotional state of those affected by agnosia. A person affected by agnosia suffers severe disabilities on the mental or physical level. This can lead to depression and selic stress. Most of the complications mentioned above represent permanent damage, the impact of which can at best be mitigated.
When should you see a doctor?
As a rule, medical treatment should always be sought in cases of soul deafness to prevent further complications and discomfort. First and foremost, an early diagnosis with early treatment is necessary to prevent further mental distress. Therefore, a doctor should be consulted at the first symptoms of soul deafness. A doctor should be consulted for soul deafness if the affected person suffers from severe sleep problems or if there are disturbances of attention or severe stuttering. Hearing difficulties or a slowed reaction time can also be an indication of soul deafness and should be examined by a doctor. Likewise, a doctor should be consulted if the affected person can no longer recognize or associate familiar people or voices correctly. In the case of soul deafness, the general practitioner can be consulted. The treatment of the disease itself is usually carried out by a psychologist. At the same time, a course of the disease can not be universally predicted.
Treatment and therapy
Dealing with people suffering from soul deafness requires a lot of patience and tact. This includes speaking slowly and clearly, making eye contact, and possibly repeating what is said several times. In cases of congenital auditory agnosia, the affected child should receive auditory and speech training as early as possible. Learning certain methods of teaching the deaf in a speech therapy school is recommended, especially lip reading. It is also helpful to combine acoustic and visual or tactile stimuli, i.e. simultaneous hearing and seeing or touching. A combination of several sensory stimuli is more memorable than one stimulus alone. Considerable success can also be achieved with music therapy, rhythmic exercises, play and sports therapy. For adults who suffer from acoustic agnosia after a stroke, for example, it is advisable to play a CD with familiar sounds and their names. The affected person should listen to these frequently, but only for a short time at a time. To train dichotic hearing, the AUDIVA company has developed the so-called DichoTrainer. This is a portable device that plays different syllables or sound sequences through headphones, either simultaneously or with a time delay. The DichoTrainer is suitable for patients of all ages. The exercises can be individually adapted to the patient’s hearing impairment and allow the requirements to be gradually increased. One exercise session usually lasts four minutes. The best method for treating sensorineural deafness is a combination of independent training and speech therapy.
Prevention
Unless congenital, auditory agnosia is a consequence of an injury or disease of the brain. Thus, it is important to minimize risk factors through a healthy diet, adequate exercise, timely treatment of elevated blood pressure, and avoidance of nicotine and alcohol.
Follow-up
As a rule, the options and measures of direct aftercare for mental deafness are significantly limited and are often not available to the affected person at all.In this case, an examination and also a treatment should be initiated very early, so that the occurrence of other complaints and complications can be prevented. Self-healing is usually not possible with deafness of the soul, so that the person affected by this disease is always dependent on medical treatment. A direct therapy of the soul deafness is also not always possible, so that many of the persons concerned depend in their everyday life on the help and on the support of the own family, in order to limit the complaints. In this context, psychological support is often also very useful. Furthermore, various exercises can increase the mobility of those affected and thus also improve their quality of life. Not infrequently, contact with other sufferers is also very important in cases of mental deafness, as this can lead to an exchange of information, which can make the patient’s everyday life easier. However, the further course cannot be predicted in general, although the disease does not usually reduce the patient’s life expectancy.
Here’s what you can do yourself
This form of perceptual disorder must be taken very seriously, as it can lead to serious secondary damage and disease. Therefore, the main focus of self-help is to prevent depression and mobilize resources so that the affected patient can learn to cope with his or her soul deafness. Psychotherapeutic therapy, possibly including the relatives, is therefore strongly recommended. In addition, other measures that can prevent depression are recommended, such as exercise or even individual sports therapy. Exercise in the fresh air also promotes mental balance. In addition, sports and exercise provide stimulating sensory impressions. A healthy lifestyle can also prevent illness-related depression and stabilizes the mind and body. This includes a regulated sleep/wake rhythm and abstaining from nicotine, alcohol and other toxins. A healthy diet with freshly prepared foods from fruits, vegetables and whole foods supports the healing process. Fast food, unhealthy fats and sugar products should be replaced by home-cooked meals with natural foods. Patients suffering from mental deafness, especially children, are generally also treated by a speech therapist who conducts hearing and speech training sessions with them. The exercises done there should be repeated frequently at home, but only briefly at a time, so that long-term therapeutic success can be achieved.
