Rare condition caused 28-year-old woman to hear all internal body sounds

Sam Fox
Updated
Woman With Rare Condition Able to Hear Her Body Working
Woman With Rare Condition Able to Hear Her Body Working



Rachel Pyne, 28, had such drastically enhanced hearing that she could hear the sound of every body part moving inside her. She could hear her eyes moving, her bones creaking, and her heart beating. The Indiana school photographer told ABC News:

"I could hear my neck muscles moving, like different things inside my body and when you tell people that, they are like, 'you're crazy.'"




The amplified sounds bothered Pyne so much that she often found herself dizzy and overwhelmed. She only worked when necessary and stopped participating in all of her hobbies. She said:

"So I would end up in bed usually before noon and just lay there. I couldn't watch TV; it was too loud. I couldn't listen to music."


Despite visiting nine different doctors, Pyne was unable to reach any conclusions or diagnosis. Finally, when she met Dr. Quinton Gopen, she started getting some answers. The UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center surgeon diagnosed the 28-year-old with Superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SCD). He told ABC news:

"What that means is the inner ear, which is the organ that is in charge of balance and hearing, has an abnormal opening in the bone. And so you tend to hear internal sounds amplified, like your heartbeat, your own voice, and even things moving inside your body like your eyes moving."


When Pyne was finally diagnosed, she felt a rush of relief. she said:

"We got in the elevator and I was crying. I was so happy."


Pyne has since received two minimally invasive surgeries to fix the condition - one on each ear. Neurosurgeon Dr. Isaac Yang, who operated on Pyne, said:

"We do this surgery in about 90 minutes and they wake up and they say, 'My symptoms are gone.'"


The immediate elimination of symptoms was exactly what happened for Pyne after her surgeries. She said:

"When I woke up from surgery I knew right off the bat that I was better and I had no more dizziness and I was talking to the nurse right when I woke up and I was ready to get up and go somewhere."



According to Gopen, about one in every half-a-million people have SCD.

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