Auditory Hallucinations In A Deaf Patient? – A Clinical Report

Abstract

Introduction

According to some studies, deaf psychiatric inpatients have prevalence rates of psychotic disorders ranging from 20 to 54%. There are descriptions of the paradoxical finding that prelingually deaf patients with psychosis may hear voices.

Objectives

To present a case report and conduct a database review in order to understand if deaf patients with psychosis can have auditory hallucinations.

Aims

The authors’ aim is to describe a case, highlight the clinical and scientific relevance of auditory hallucinations in deaf patients and the difficulties and limitations of this process.

Methods

A Pubmed database search using as keywords “auditory hallucinations”, “deaf” and “deafness” and retrieved papers were selected according to their relevance.

Results

The authors report a case of a 47-year-old female patient apparently suffering from congenital deafness. The patient had no previous psychiatric history until 4 months prior to her admission at our institution, when she started having psychotic symptoms. The patient was admitted into a Neurology ward but because no neurological sign was found psychiatric liaison consultation was requested. Four months later, she had the same symptoms, describing a voice that said to “shut up” and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. After medication, the symptoms relapsed and now she is followed in an outpatient setting.

The presence and nature of auditory hallucinations in deaf patients is not fully elucidated and there are methodological problems in the investigation of this subject.

Conclusions

Current evidence is still inconclusive and the fact that prelingually deaf patient hear voices needs further research.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.