"Selective" deafness? The rare disease that prevents people from listening to male voices | Science and health

Some might even see it as a benefit or a dream come true, but the truth is that it's a rare disease called reversal hearing loss or low-frequency hearing loss .

People with this condition stop listening to low-frequency sounds, such as male voices, buzzing refrigerators, microwaves or even thunder, for example.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 466 million people worldwide (or 5% of the population) have hearing problems that make them incapacitating. It is estimated that 3,000 have this disease only in the United States and Canada.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, at the end of 2018, based on IBGE data, in Brazil, more than 9.7 million people – or 4.63% of the population – were hard of hearing.

Absence of male voices

The rare condition of this deficiency has become topical this month due to a case recorded in China.

A Chinese woman, identified by the surname Chen, sought a hospital stating that she could not hear the voice of her boyfriend, according to the AFP news agency and the Chinese media local.

The night before her arrival at the hospital, otolaryngologist Lin Xiaoqinga, who attended the unit, told local media that she was throwing up and that She had ringing in her ears.

The doctor diagnosed her with a reverse-tipped hearing loss by proving that she was hearing her voice, but not that of a man, nor of the staff of the hospital.

In Chen's case, the doctor stated that the illness was caused by a combination of factors ranging from stress and long hours to a few hours of sleep.

With a rest period, his hearing ability should improve, according to Xiaoqinga.

Reverse tilt loss is usually hereditary and is related to conditions such as Wolfram syndrome, which affects diabetic patients, or Mondini dysplasia, which affects the cochlea, internal part of the ear close to the auditory nerve.

This hearing loss can also be caused, in some cases, by a change in the pressure in the inner ear or by an abnormal opening in the ear, as a side effect of the ear. 39, general anesthesia, for example.

Reverse-slope hearing impaired people may have difficulty hearing voice over the phone or motor noise.