A Chinese woman developed a sudden hearing loss that makes her unable to hear the voice of men.

A Chinese woman developed a sudden hearing loss that makes her unable to hear the voice of men.

The patient, who has only been identified by her surname, Chen, went to sleep with nausea and ringing in her ears but woke up to find she was unable to hear her boyfriend. Ms Chen, from the city Xiamen, on the east coast of China, went straight to the hospital when she woke up and her condition left doctors confused.

Doctors tried to figure out her bizarre symptoms, which were the opposite to more common forms of hearing loss, according to local reports. What was more surprising was that she could hear the voice of women, but not that of men.

A specialist diagnosed her with reverse-slope hearing loss, in which she could only hear high frequencies. 

The condition is believed to affect only one in nearly 13,000 patients with hearing problems, according to figures. 

It was possible that stress may have contributed to the condition, the doctors said.