Mother-of-two, 49, is tormented by rare brain condition that means she hears her heart beat and her eyeballs moving 24 hours a day
- The rare ailment causes a hole between Pam Roberts’s brain and her inner ear
- The mother of two suffers from Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence (SSCD)
- ‘I have to have background noise on to distract me from the sounds,’ she said
A mother is being tortured by a rare brain condition that has left her hearing so sensitive she can hear her own heartbeat – and the sound of her eyeballs moving.
The rare ailment causes a hole between her brain and her inner ear, meaning she is forced to listen to the sounds 24 hours a day.
Pam Roberts, 49, from Maidstone, Kent, said: ‘The most difficult thing for me is hearing my voice all the time like a broken kazoo – I can’t ever escape it.
Pam suffers from Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence (SSCD), which means she is constantly haunted by the sound of her own body. Pictured in hospital after treatment
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‘There are really bad days where I don’t answer the phone because I cannot bear to talk and have to listen to it.’
The mother of two suffers from Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence (SSCD) – an opening in the bone that covers part of the inner ear affecting hearing and balance.
‘I have to have background noise on all the time to distract me from the sounds,’ she said. ‘It affects you mentally and makes you so depressed – I am a shell of my former self.’
Pam underwent surgery (left and right) which failed to correct her Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence
A scan of Pam’s left inner ear canal showing the Superior Semicircular Canal Dehiscence
Although the cause is unknown, the condition can be present from birth; the average age for diagnosis is 45.
It affects only 1 per cent of the population and Miss Roberts has spoken with just ten people who have the syndrome, via online forums.
She was diagnosed in 2015 and her partner Martyn Smith said the family have since been ‘torn apart by her condition’. The 41-year-old X-ray engineer said: ‘Pam has become a recluse seeking refuge in the house – very different from the old Pam.
‘All day she hears the insides of her body – her eyeballs moving, her footsteps, her own voice too loud inside her head and her breathing.’
She was diagnosed in 2015 and her partner Martyn Smith said the family have since been ‘torn apart by her condition’
The ‘fun-loving’ mum has become a shell of her former self because she is tortured by the sound of her eyeballs moving
The couple have two children – Bethany, six and Bobbie, two – and Miss Roberts was battling her condition during her second pregnancy. She said: ‘The children just want to play and they scream when they are naturally excited, as children do, but it’s so painful for me.’
She had surgery in Britain last year when she was told by doctors they would resolve the problem but it only made her symptoms worse.
Mr Smith has launched a fundraising page to raise £5,500 to fly her to the US for tests and surgery. He said: ‘There is no real knowledge of this condition in the UK. Pam’s only option to get her life back is brain surgery – craniotomy – with an SSCD expert in the US.’
Pam with her partner Martyn Smith and their children Bethany and Bobbie
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