Millions of years ago, the world was quite a bit different. The long-necked Diplacusis wandered this volcano-laden landscape. Thanks to its really long neck and tail, Diplacusis was so big that it feared no predator.
Actually, the long-necked dinosaur from the Jurassic Period is called Diplodocus. When you’re hearing two sounds simultaneously, that’s a hearing condition known as diplacusis.
Diplacusis is an affliction which can be frustrating and confusing resulting in difficulty with communication.
Perhaps your hearing has been a little weird lately
Typically, we regard hearing loss as our hearing becoming muted or quiet over time. Over time, the story goes, we just hear less and less. But sometimes, hearing loss can manifest in some peculiar ways. One of the most interesting (or, perhaps, frustrating) such presentations is a condition called diplacusis.
What is diplacusis?
Exactly what is diplacusis? Diplacusis is a medical term that means, pretty simply, “double hearing”. Typically, your brain gets signals from your right ear and signals from the left ear and joins them harmoniously into a single sound. This blended sound is what you hear. Your eyes are doing the same thing. If you place a hand over your right eye and then a hand on your left eye, you see slightly different images, right? It’s the same with your ears, it’s just that usually, you never notice it.
When your brain can’t efficiently merge the two sounds from your ears because they are too different, you have this condition of diplacusis. You can develop diplacusis because of the hearing loss in one ear (called monaural diplacusis) or both ears (binaural diplacusis).
Two forms of diplacusis
Different people are impacted differently by diplacuses. Normally, though, individuals will experience one of the following two types of diplacusis:
- Diplacusis dysharmonica: When the pitch of the right and left ear don’t match it’s a sign of this form of diplacusis. So the sound will be distorted when somebody speaks with you. Maybe your right ear hears the sound as low-pitched and your left ear hears the sound as high-pitched. Those sounds can be hard to understand consequently.
- Diplacusis echoica: With this, what you hear will seem off because your brain gets the sound from each ear out of sync with the other rather than hearing two different pitches. This could cause echoes (or, instead, artifacts that sound similar to echoes). And understanding speech can become challenging because of this.
Symptoms of diplacusis
The symptoms of diplacusis can include:
- Phantom echoes
- Off pitch hearing
- Hearing that sounds off (in timing).
Having said that, it’s helpful to view diplacusis as akin to double vision: Yes, it can produce some symptoms on its own, but it’s usually itself a symptom of something else. (It’s the effect, essentially, not the cause.) Diplacusis, in these circumstances, is probably a symptom of hearing loss. So your best course of action would be to make an appointment with us for a hearing exam.
What are the causes diplacusis?
The causes of diplacusis line up quite well, in a general way, with the causes of hearing loss. But there are some particular reasons why you might develop diplacusis:
- Noise-induced damage to your ears: If you’ve experienced enough loud sounds to damage your hearing, it’s possible that the same damage has brought about hearing loss, and as a result, diplacusis.
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even just plain old allergies can cause your ear canal to become inflamed. This swelling, while a standard response, can impact the way sound travels through your inner ear and to your brain.
- Earwax: Your hearing can be affected by an earwax obstruction. Whether that earwax forms a partial or full obstruction, it can lead to diplacusis.
- A tumor: In some very rare cases, tumors inside your ear canal can cause diplacusis. But remain calm! They’re normally benign. But you should still speak with us about it.
It’s obvious that there are many of the same causes of diplacusis and hearing loss. Meaning that you likely have some level of hearing loss if you’re experiencing diplacusis. Which means you have a good reason to visit a hearing specialist.
Treatments for diplacusis
Depending on the main cause, there are several possible treatments. If you have an obstruction, treating your diplacusis will center around clearing it out. However, diplacusis is frequently brought on by irreversible sensorineural hearing loss. Here are some treatment options if that’s the situation:
- Hearing aids: Your hearing can be equalized with the right set of hearing aids. Your diplacusis symptoms will gradually fade when you benefit from hearing aids. You’ll want to consult us about getting the right settings for your hearing aids.
- Cochlear implant: A cochlear implant may be the only way of managing diplacusis if the root cause is profound hearing loss.
A hearing test is the first step to getting to the bottom of the problem. Think about it this way: a hearing assessment will be able to establish what kind of hearing loss is at the root of your diplacusis (and, to be fair, you might not even recognize it as diplacusis, you may just think stuff sounds weird these days). Modern hearing assessments are quite sensitive, and good at finding inconsistencies between how your ears hear the world.
Hearing clearly is more fun than not
Getting the right treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s a hearing aid or something else, means you’ll be more capable of participating in your daily life. Conversations will be easier. It will be easier to stay in tune with your family.
So there will be no diplacusis symptoms interfering with your ability to hear your grandkids telling you all about the Diplodocus.
Call today for an appointment to have your diplacusis symptoms assessed.
