Millions of years ago, the world was a lot different. This steamy, volcano-laden landscape is where the long-necked Diplacusis wandered. 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 known as Diplodocus. When you’re hearing two sounds simultaneously, that’s a hearing condition called diplacusis.
Diplacusis is a condition which can be challenging and confusing causing difficulty communicating.
Perhaps your hearing has been a little weird lately
We’re used to regarding hearing loss as a sort of gradual lowering of the volume knob. Over time, the story goes, we simply hear less and less. But there are some other, not so well recognized, types of hearing loss. Diplacusis is one of the stranger, and also more frustrating, of these hearing problems.
Diplacusis, what is it?
So, what’s diplacusis? Diplacusis is a medical name that means, basically, “double hearing”. Typically, your brain takes information from the right ear and information from the left ear and marries them harmoniously into one sound. That’s what you hear. The same thing happens with your eyes. You will see slightly different images if you put your hand over each eye one at a time. Normally, with your ears, you don’t even notice it.
Diplacusis happens when the hearing abilities of your ears vary so wildly that your brain can no longer merge them, at least not well. Monaural diplacusis is caused by hearing loss in only one ear while binaural diplacusis is due to hearing loss in both.
Two types of diplacusis
Different people are impacted differently by diplacuses. Normally, though, people will experience one of the following two forms of diplacusis:
- Diplacusis echoica: This occurs when the pitch is nearly the same from ear to ear, but due to your hearing loss, the timing is all wonky. This may cause echoes (or, rather, artifacts that sound like echoes). This can also cause difficulty in terms of understanding speech.
- Diplacusis dysharmonica: When the pitch of the right and left ear are off it’s a sign of this type of diplacusis. So when your grandkids speak with you, the pitch of their voice will sound distorted. One side may sound high-pitched and the other low-pitched. This can cause those sounds to be hard to make out.
Diplacusis symptoms
The symptoms of diplacusis can include:
- Hearing that seems off (in pitch).
- Hearing that seems off (in timing).
- Hearing echoes where they don’t actually exist.
Having said that, it’s helpful to think of diplacusis as akin to double vision: It’s usually a symptom of something else, but it can produce some of its own symptoms. (In other words, it’s the effect, not the cause.) Diplacusis, in these cases, is most likely a symptom of hearing loss. So your best strategy would be to Schedule an appointment with us for a hearing test.
What are the causes diplacusis?
In a very general sense (and probably not surprisingly), the causes of diplacusis line up rather well with the causes of hearing loss. But you could experience diplacusis for a number of specific reasons:
- Earwax: Your ability to hear can be impacted by an earwax obstruction. Whether that earwax causes a partial or complete blockage, it can cause diplacusis.
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even normal allergies can cause your ear canal to swell. This swelling, while a typical response, can effect the way sound moves through your inner ear and to your brain.
- Your ears have damage caused by noise: If you’ve experienced enough loud sounds to damage your ears, it’s possible that the same damage has resulted in hearing loss, and as a result, diplacusis.
- A tumor: In some extremely rare cases, tumors inside your ear canal can result in diplacusis. Don’t panic! In most cases they’re benign. Still, it’s something you should speak with your hearing specialist about!
Obviously, diplacusis and hearing loss have many of the same typical causes. Meaning that you likely have some degree of hearing loss if you have diplacusis. Which means you have a good reason to see a hearing specialist.
How is diplacusis treated?
Depending on the main cause, there are several possible treatments. If your condition is caused by a blockage, like earwax, then treatment will focus on the removal of that obstruction. But permanent sensorineural hearing loss is more frequently the cause. In these cases, the best treatment options include:
- Hearing aids: The correct pair of hearing aids can neutralize how your ears hear again. Your diplacusis symptoms will gradually fade when you take advantage of hearing aids. It’s important to get the right settings on your hearing aids and you’ll want to have us assist you with that.
- Cochlear implant: A cochlear implant might be the only way of managing diplacusis if the root cause is profound hearing loss.
A hearing test is the first step to getting it all figured out. Think about it this way: a hearing test will be able to determine what kind of hearing loss is at the root of your diplacusis (and, to be fair, you may not even recognize it as diplacusis, you might just think things sound weird these days). We have very sensitive hearing tests nowadays and any discrepancies with how your ears are hearing the world will be detected.
Life is more fun when you can hear clearly
You’ll be better able to enjoy your life when you get the correct treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s hearing aids or some other treatment. It will be easier to talk to people. Keeping up with your family will be easier.
Which means, you’ll be able to hear your grandchildren tell you all about what a Diplodocus is, and you (hopefully) won’t have any diplacusis to impede you.
Call today for an appointment to have your diplacusis symptoms checked.
