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    Discussion point 9

    9.  Evidence that comprehension of speech is lost following bilateral injury of the
    inferior colliculi.

    Rapin (1997) suggested that "verbal auditory agnosia" might underly the
    developmental language disorder of some children with autism:

    "A compromised ability to decode the rapid acoustic stimuli
    that characterize speech results in the most devastating
    language disorder in autism: verbal auditory agnosia or
    word deafness." [72, p97]

    At least 11 reports of verbal auditory agnosa have been reported following
    injury of the inferior colliculi [73-83].  How much more serious injury of the
    inferior colliculi should be for an infant who has not yet begun to speak.

    The inferior colliculi were the primary site of injury in monkeys subjected to
    asphyxia at birth [4, 7].  The same injury has been observed in human infants
    following difficult birth or suffocation [5, 6, 8-13].
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The auditory system
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