Question

A patient reports that she has become completely deaf—she can't hear anything. Thorough tests on her ears indicate that her ears have not been damaged. Additional tests reveal that her deafness has been caused by damage to her ______. A)primary somatosensory cortex B)auditory association area C)somatosensory association cortex D)None of the listed responses is correct.

Answer 1

The patient's deafness is caused by damage to the auditory association area. (Option B)

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct answer is B) auditory association area.

The patient's deafness is not due to damage in the ears, as tests have shown that her ears are not damaged. This indicates that the problem lies in the brain, specifically in the auditory association area. The auditory association area is responsible for processing auditory information to generate more complex sensory perceptions, such as hearing.

Damage to the primary somatosensory cortex (A) would affect the sense of touch and sensations from the body, not hearing. Damage to the somatosensory association cortex (C) would affect the processing of touch and body sensations, not hearing. None of the responses mentioned in option D are correct because the damage is not related to the listed options.