In a rare hearing-loss condition, a woman in China has lost the ability to hear men's voices. The woman whose name is Chen woke up on a morning and could not hear her boyfriend. She was rushed to Qianpu Hospital but that did not help her. After tests were conducted on her, Chen was found out to be diagnosed with a condition called Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss or RSHL.
A night before the incident, Chen had been suffering from nausea and ringing in the ears. She thought after a night's sleep she will be fine and hence went to sleep with her boyfriend. However, she woke up with a terrible condition that did not even make sense to her. An ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT) checked her ear at the hospital.
Daily Mail reported that according to Dr Lin Xiaoqing, who treated Chen, she could properly hear everything that the female ENT said, however, could not hear a male patient standing next to her. Do You Have A Crease On Your Earlobe? Indian Doctor Says It’s A Sign of Heart Disease.
What is Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss or RSHL?
Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss is a very rare condition and according to Tennessee's Thigpen Hearing Center "for every 12,000 cases of hearing loss, only one person has RSHL." In the United States and Canada, the condition affects roughly 3,000 people. Those with RSHL generally have issues hearing low-frequency sounds; she can only hear high-frequency sounds.
Doctors say that stress could have resulted in the condition. The condition is difficult to diagnose because both doctors and patients may not know the cause. It could also be genetic where a patient never heard sounds with lower frequencies. Symptoms of this condition may include difficulty in the understanding of speech on the phone as volume comes in lower frequencies.
Patients who suffer from RSHL can hear and women clearly, but not men. Chen said that she has been working a lot lately under pressure. Also, she has not been getting enough sleep. Chen is expected to receive her complete hearing back soon with the medic monitoring her recovery.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 12, 2019 08:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).