Canadian Doctors Link 50s Woman's Hallucinations to Hearing Loss, Not Psychosis
Updated
Updated · Livescience.com · Jul 8
Canadian Doctors Link 50s Woman's Hallucinations to Hearing Loss, Not Psychosis
2 articles · Updated · Livescience.com · Jul 8
Summary
Several failed antipsychotic trials led doctors to reclassify a Canadian woman’s voice-hearing as a hearing-loss-related phenomenon rather than psychosis.
Hearing tests found bilateral loss ranging from moderate to severe in one ear and mild to profound in the other, while brain scans, blood tests and neurological exams showed no other cause.
Her symptoms began with hearing her name in quiet settings and progressed to murmurs, yet she kept working full time and showed no paranoia, delusions, disorganized thinking or functional decline.
Two months after receiving hearing aids, the voices persisted, so clinicians shifted from trying to eliminate them to education and psychotherapy aimed at reducing distress and improving coping.
The case report says persistent hallucinations after treating hearing impairment are rare and argues for early hearing assessments in patients with isolated auditory hallucinations and intact daily functioning.