The world was very different millions of years ago. This steamy, volcano-laden landscape is where the long-necked Diplacusis wandered. Thanks to its extra long neck and tail, Diplacusis was so big that it was afraid of no predator.
Actually, the long-necked dinosaur from the Jurassic Period is called Diplodocus. Diplacusis is a hearing condition that causes you to hear two sounds at the same time.
While it’s not a “horrible lizard,” in many ways diplacusis can be a menace on its own, resulting in a hearing experience that feels bewildering and out of sorts (frequently making communication challenging or impossible).
Perhaps your hearing has been a little weird lately
Typically, we regard hearing loss as our hearing getting muted or quiet over time. Over time, the idea is, we just hear less and less. But there are some other, not so well known, types of hearing loss. Diplacusis is one of the weirder, and also more frustrating, of these hearing problems.
What is diplacusis?
Exactly what is diplacusis? Diplacusis is a medical term that means, pretty simply, “double hearing”. Typically, your brain will combine the sound from your right and left ear into a single sound. This combined 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 over your left eye, you see slightly different images, right? Your ears are the same, it’s just that usually, you don’t notice it.
Diplacusis occurs when the hearing abilities of your ears vary so wildly that your brain can no longer combine them, at least not very well. Monaural diplacusis is caused by hearing loss in only one ear while binaural diplacusis is due to hearing loss in both.
Diplacusis comes in two forms
Diplacusis doesn’t impact everyone in the same way. However, there are typically two basic types of diplacusis:
- 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 instead of hearing two separate pitches. Artifacts like echoes can be the result. And understanding speech can become challenging because of this.
- Diplacusis dysharmonica: This kind of diplacusis occurs when the pitch of the right ear and the pitch of the left ear are hearing sound as two different pitches. So when your grandchildren speak with you, the pitch of their voice will sound distorted. One side might sound high-pitched and the other low-pitched. Those sounds can be difficult to understand consequently.
Diplacusis symptoms
Here are some symptoms of diplacusis:
- Hearing echoes where they don’t actually exist.
- Off timing hearing
- Off pitch hearing
Having said that, it’s useful to think of diplacusis as similar to double vision: Yes, it can produce some symptoms on its own, but it’s normally itself a symptom of something else. (It’s the effect, essentially, not the cause.) Diplacusis, in these cases, is most likely a symptom of hearing loss. As a result, if you experience diplacusis, you should probably make an appointment with a hearing specialist.
What causes diplacusis?
The causes of diplacusis line up rather well, in a general way, with the causes of hearing loss. But there are a few particular reasons why you could develop diplacusis:
- Noise-related damage to your ears: If you’ve experienced hearing loss as a result of noise damage, it’s possible that it could cause diplacusis.
- Earwax: Your hearing can be impacted by an earwax blockage. Whether that earwax causes a partial or complete obstruction, it can lead to diplacusis.
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even just plain old allergies can cause your ear canal to swell. This swelling is a common immune response, but it can impact the way sound waves travel into your inner ear (and therefore your brain).
- A tumor: Diplacusis can, in rare cases, be the result of a tumor in your ear canal. But stay calm! In most cases they’re benign. Nevertheless, it’s something you should talk to your hearing specialist about!
As you can see, diplacusis and hearing loss have many of the same common causes. This means that if you have diplacusis, it’s likely that something is impeding your ability to hear. So you should absolutely come in and see us.
Treatments for diplacusis
The treatments for diplacusis vary based on the underlying cause. If you have a blockage, treating your diplacusis will center around clearing it out. But permanent sensorineural hearing loss is more frequently the cause. Here are a few treatment options if that’s the situation:
- Hearing aids: The correct pair of hearing aids can equalize how your ears hear again. Your diplacusis symptoms will gradually fade when you benefit from hearing aids. It’s essential to get the proper settings on your hearing aids and you’ll want to have us help you with that.
- Cochlear implant: A cochlear implant may be the only way of dealing with diplacusis if the root cause is profound hearing loss.
All of this starts with a hearing test. Here’s how you can think about it: whatever type of hearing loss is the source of your diplacusis, a hearing exam will be able to determine that (and, to be fair, you may not even recognize it as diplacusis, you might just think things sound weird these days). We have really 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 proper treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s hearing aids or some other treatment. It will be easier to carry on conversations. It will be easier to stay in tune with your family.
So there will be no diplacusis symptoms getting in the way of your ability to hear your grandkids telling you all about the Diplodocus.
If you believe you have diplacusis and want to have it checked, call today for an appointment.