AUDITORY INATTENTION IN RIGHT-HEMISPHERE-DAMAGED PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT VISUAL NEGLECT

Fifteen right-hemisphere-damaged patients, eight with-and Seven withou t visual neglect (N+ and N-, respectively), were assessed for the pres ence of auditory neglect using free-field bilateral simultaneous stimu lation (BSS) and pseudorandom unilateral stimulation. Eight healthy su bjects served as controls. Both N+ and N- groups extinguished left-sid ed sound stimuli in the BSS condition. N+ (but not N-) patients showed a right-side advantage in sound localization and were inferior, compa red to normal individuals, in their ability to localize unilaterally a dministered sounds on the left side. Blindfolding significantly improv ed the localization performance. In a task demanding stimulus identifi cation, both N+ and N- groups performed abnormally when auditory stimu li came from the left. Free-held stimulation is thus an adequate techn ique for the detection of auditory neglect. The results are consistent with the notion that left-sided neglect reflects a pathologically exa ggerated attentional bias towards the right in normal individuals. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.