Impaired language comprehension or expression is called which term?

• A. Aphasia
• B. Dysphonia
• C. Circumlocution
• D. Paraphasia

Answer: (A)

Language impairment following brain injury is called aphasia. It describes difficulty with understanding language or producing it, and can affect speaking, naming, repetition, and comprehension depending on which language areas are affected. This makes it the best fit for a question about impaired language comprehension or expression.

Dysphonia is a voice problem—issues with how the voice sounds (pitch, volume, quality) rather than a deficit in language processing. Circumlocution isn’t a disease term but a strategy of talking around a word, often used when someone knows the concept but can’t recall the exact word. Paraphasia refers to errors in speech production, like saying a related but incorrect word or mixing syllables, which can occur in aphasia but is a specific symptom, not the general diagnosis.