The inability to recognize specific sounds in the context of intact hearing. There is a distinction in this syndrome between pure word deafness, which is considered an agnosia for auditory/verbal information, and auditory agnosia, which involves an agnosia for environmental, nonverbal sounds. Cortical deafness is also a term applied to patients who essentially do not respond to any auditory information even when hearing is intact. Also known as acoustic agnosia.
The inability to identify the auditory components of words, also known as word deafness.