Sensory deafferentation syndromes: a case of Charles Bonnet and musical ear syndrome

Excerpt

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) and its auditory counterpart, the musical ear syndrome (MES), are both deafferentation syndromes [1]. Visual sensory deafferentation leads to disinhibition of visual cortical regions that subsequently show spontaneous neuronal activity [1, 2]. The same principle applies to auditory sensory deprivation [3]. The most commonly applied diagnostic criterion for CBS includes the clinical triad of a normal cognitive function, visual hallucinations and a visual acuity or visual field loss [1, 4]. MES is usually defined as the triad of a normal cognitive function, auditory hallucinations and an acquired hearing loss [5]. In both conditions psychiatric disorders should be excluded [1‐4]. In this case, we report a rare combination of CBS and MES, which to our best knowledge has only been reported in three cases [2]. …