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A woman woke up one day and suddenly couldn’t hear men’s voices

The woman was diagnosed with a rare ear condition that only one in 12,000 people around the world usually experience.

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Neha B.

By  Neha B.
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Representative Image Source: Pexels – Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Malik

In a scene that looks straight out of a mystery thriller, a woman in Xiamen, China, one day woke up in a hospital, only to find that she couldn’t hear her boyfriend’s voice anymore. Not just her boyfriend’s voice, but she couldn’t hear any male voice altogether. What shocked her even more was the fact that she could still hear women’s voices quite normally. Later, she was diagnosed with a rare ear condition called “Reverse Slope Hearing Loss (RSHL),” reported Daily Mail.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | Mart Production
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Mart Production

Identified only with the surname “Chen,” the woman revealed that on the night before the said morning, she heard a bizarre ringing sound in her ears and also felt nausea. When she couldn’t hear her boyfriend’s voice, she visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Qianpu Hospital where she was told that she was suffering from this rare ailment. Dr. Lin Xiaoqing, the woman doctor who treated her, said Chen was able to hear her when she spoke but couldn’t hear a male. “She couldn’t hear him at all,” said Dr. Xiaoqing.

via GIPHY

RSHL refers to an ear disorder in which a person’s ability to hear low-frequency sounds is debilitated. According to AanviiHearing, these low-pitched sounds can include men’s voices, bass tones in music, and rumbling sounds like thunder. On an audiogram, a graph that audiologists use to measure hearing levels, RSHL appears as a downward slope from low to high frequencies. Low-frequency hearing loss is rarer than high-frequency hearing loss, which displays an upward slope in the audiogram. According to Audiology & Hearing, for every 12,000 cases of hearing loss, only one person has RSHL.

via GIPHY

Usually, a person hears a sound when sound waves enter the outer ear and travel through a narrow passageway called the ear canal, which leads to the eardrum, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Communications Disorders (NIDCD). Then the eardrum vibrates and sends these vibrations to three tiny bones in the middle ear named malleus, incus, and stapes. After amplifying these sound vibrations, these bones pass them on to the cochlea, a snail or spiral-shaped structure filled with fluid, in the inner ear.

Image Source: National Institute on Deafness and Communications Disorders (NIDCD)
Image Source: National Institute on Deafness and Communications Disorders (NIDCD)

As the vibrations reach the cochlea, the fluid inside it stirs, causing ripples. These ripples cause the hair cells to move up and down. This triggers chemical reactions, prompting electrical signals that go to the brain and inform it about the sound, that the person hears. Therefore, the frequency of hearing loss depends on which part of a person’s ear is affected.

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caption=”Representative Image Source: ‘Delicate Mechanism of the Ear’, c1934. From The Treasury of Knowledge. [Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk, 1934] (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)” photo_credit=”” title=””]

Speaking to Business Insider, Patricia Johnson, a doctor of audiology, explained that mainly, there are three causes for RSHL. First, “a particular gene might cause certain hair cells to never develop in utero,” Johnson said. These tiny hairs are crucial for a person to recognize different sound pitches. Secondly, RSHL may also be the result of another ear condition, like Meniere’s disease, which affects the fluid surrounding the hair cells, Johnson added. Apart from this, the condition could be triggered abruptly, as in Chen’s case, most probably due to a viral infection. However, Chen’s RSHL, doctors believe, was caused by stress, overwork, and lack of sleep. They also confirmed that recovery was possible in her case. 

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    Due to their serialized format, terrific TV shows can create a real sense of community, sparking our imaginations in ways other mediums simply cannot. The very best, like Apple TV+’s mind-bending dystopian mystery series Severance, can also offer a comforting form of escapism.

    Ben Stiller, the show’s primary director and executive producer, was reminded of that fact over X, when a hardcore fan reached out with a seemingly long-shot request:

    “Hi @BenStiller! Severance is the best show my husband and I have ever seen,” wrote Emily Powell-Heaton. “I have stage 4 cancer. A great bucket list item to check off would be to meet you and any of the cast and crew from the show. We can fly anywhere. We live near Toronto, Canada. Would this be possible? Thanks for your help!”

    Stiller, who has 5.3 million followers on the platform as of this writing, responded on the same day, asking for a DM. While we don’t know the specifics of their conversation, it appears they made plans to meet up in some fashion—potentially even with other people involved in the acclaimed show.

    “Thank you so much @BenStiller and team for making my wish come true!” they wrote. “My husband and I are over the moon about meeting you and the many other incredible people who work together to create #Severance! I am so happy.” The filmmaker replied, “Look forward to meeting you xx.”

    While social media can be a dark, depressing, divisive place, this connection highlights how it can be harnessed for good. Even the replies to their exchange were disarmingly positive, with strangers praising Stiller’s kind gesture and sending well wishes to Powell-Heaton.


    – “What a good guy. Prayers up for you, Emily!”

    – “YES!!! Fantastic… when the internet works well it really does. Xx”

    – “He is a legend! He’s made such an important dream come true!”

    – “You’re the man @BenStiller”

    – “Good on you, Ben. Emily, I hope you enjoy all things good and wish you wellness. XO”

    After the interaction with Stiller went viral, Powell-Heaton reposted an article about the news, writing, “He is a legend! He’s made such an important dream come true!”

    Powell-Heaton, who, according to their X profile, is 34 and has metastatic breast cancer, shared a health update shortly after the interaction with Stiller: “The spinal surgery is a go. No date set up yet but it’s likely to be in April. The spinal surgeon has to consult with some ENT specialists and I have to get a [CT] scan done on my face and neck area. This will determine if the surgery will be done from the back of the spinal cord or the front. A metal cage will be placed around the crumbling part of my spine to strengthen it.”

    Metastatic breast cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is a cancer “that’s spread from your breast to other areas of your body.” The article states that there is no cure, “but thanks to newer treatments, more people with metastatic breast cancer are living longer than ever before.”


    In a study published in February 2025 in Cancer Causes & Control, researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health analyzed data from all 50 U.S. states, concluding that breast cancer cases are increasing for women under 40. “From 2001 to 2020, breast cancer incidence in women under 40 increased by more than 0.50 percent per year in 21 states, while remaining stable or decreasing in the other states,” according to a news release about the study. “Incidence was 32 percent higher in the five states with the highest rates compared to the five states with the lowest rates.”

    Rebecca Kehm, PhD, the study’s co-author and an assistant professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School, wrote that these increases are “alarming” and cannot be solely explained by genetic factors or changes in screening practices.

    This article originally appeared earlier this year.

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