This study examined implicit semantic and rhyming cues on perception
of auditory stimuli among nonaphasic participants who suffered a lesion of
the right cerebral hemisphere and auditory neglect of sound perceived by
the left ear. Because language represents an elaborate processing of
auditory stimuli and the language centers were intact among these
patients, it was hypothesized that interactive verbal stimuli presented in
a dichotic manner would attenuate neglect. The selected participants were
administered an experimental dichotic listening test composed of six types
of word pairs: unrelated words, synonyms, antonyms, categorically related
words, compound words, and rhyming words. Presentation of word pairs that
were semantically related resulted in a dramatic reduction of auditory
neglect. Dichotic presentations of rhyming words exacerbated auditory
neglect. These findings suggest that the perception of auditory
information is strongly affected by the specific content conveyed by the
auditory system. Language centers will process a degraded stimulus that
contains salient language content. A degraded auditory stimulus is
neglected if it is devoid of content that activates the language centers
or other cognitive systems. In general, these findings suggest that
auditory neglect involves a complex interaction of intact and impaired
cerebral processing centers with content that is selectively processed by
these centers (JINS, 2006, 12, 649–656.)