This patient is described in medical audiology case #5.

She’s a 44 year old woman who is two years post traumatic brain injury. She fell at home, hit her head on a marble floor and did not go to the hospital until nearly a day later when her speech became garbled, by which time she had extensive brain hemorrhaging with damage most pronounced to the left temporal lobe. She’s had intensive speech and physical therapy.  At the time of the accident she was living with her boyfriend. They married subsequently, which brought insurance benefits into the equation.  Her husband is her caretaker.

She still has Wernicke’s aphasia.  She frequently says words related to the concept discussed, but the words are repeated over and over and soon are not contextual.  She is happy, does not show signs of frustration, and has at least some level of receptive language understanding.  She could not communicate well enough to have word recognition testing conducted. Her husband filled out the paperwork, and some questions such as about tinnitus and aural fullness were left with a question mark – that level of nuanced information could not be obtained.

She does not have any residual motoric deficits.  Vision is normal.  Her disabilities are too pronounced for her to work.

Her audiogram is shown below.  The hearing loss likely was present before the injury.  Her sister has hearing loss.

Discuss amplification options and concerns.

Case credits: Erica Friedland, AuD, Nova Southeastern University, donated this case.