The Slippery Reverse Slope

We have all interacted with the person with generally sloping sensorineural hearing loss who has more trouble hearing children and other high pitch sounds. The accompanying social commentary made in jest surrounds the man with the hearing loss being accused of having selective hearing, specifically ignoring his wife. Well the table has been turned.

Newsweek reports a case of a woman waking up unable to hear male voices. A reverse sloping hearing loss is blamed for the condition and attributed to more than one medical specialist. Here are the obvious questions for the cognoscenti—how severe a low-frequency loss, and how steep a reverse slope would you have to have for you to not hear male voices but have no trouble with female voices at all?

Reference

Gander K. (2019) Bizarre Ear Condition Makes Woman Unable to Hear Men’s Voices. Newsweek. January 10.