I used to work in a library and about 30 years ago an older man would borrow talking books for the visually impaired, i.e. audio books.

He used to complain if we gave him books read by a woman. I just thought it was some sort of aversion to women reading the books until someone in his family told me he couldn't hear the higher register of a woman's voice so he was missing out on half the story.

I think he had industrial deafness caused by being exposed at work to constantly loud machinery. My Dad developed that too. He was a motor mechanic working on large trucks.