BEIJING: In a bizarre situation, a Chinese woman has been diagnosed with a type of hearing loss in which she is unable to hear the voices of men and can only higher frequency tones of other females.
The patient identified as Chen, from the city Xiamen, on the east coast of China, told the doctors that she woke up one day to find she was unable to hear her voices of men, including her boyfriend.
After diagnosis it was found that Chen was suffering from reverse-slope hearing loss, in which she could only hear high frequencies. It can affect one in nearly 13,000 patients with hearing problems. According to doctors, stress may be the reason behind this condition of Chen.
Reports claim that the woman was suffering from nausea and ringing in her ears the night before she woke up with this conditon. Chen went to Qianpu Hospital in the city and met an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT). The female doctor who treated Chen said that she was able to hear her without any problem but she was unable to hear aything which was said by a young male patient.
What is reverse-slope hearing loss (RSHL)?
Reverse-slope hearing loss (RSHL) affects mainly the lower frequencies and genetic is one of its main causes. Some identified sources of RHSL are Wolfram syndrome, Mondini dysplasia, and inheritance through a dominant gene. Sudden hearing loss, Ménière’s disease and viral infection are also identified as causes of RSHL.
It is not easy to treat RSHL as most health care professionals are trained to treat high-frequency loss. The symptoms of RSHL include difficulty understanding speech on the phone, understanding the voises of women and children but not men, and inability to hear low-frequency environmental sounds.
