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 large that it feared no predator.
Actually, Diplodocus is the long-necked dinosaur from the Jurassic Period. Diplacusis is a hearing affliction 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 terror on its own, causing a hearing experience that feels confusing and out of sorts (frequently making communication challenging or impossible).
Perhaps your hearing has been a bit weird lately
We’re used to regarding hearing loss as a sort of progressive lowering of the volume knob. According to this idea, over time, we simply hear less and less. But there are some other, not so well known, types of hearing loss. One of the most fascinating (or, possibly, frustrating) such manifestations is a condition called diplacusis.
Diplacusis, what is it?
So, what’s diplacusis? Diplacusis is a medical name that means, pretty simply, “double hearing”. Normally, your brain gets signals from your right ear and signals from the left ear and marries them harmoniously into a single sound. That’s what you hear. The same thing occurs with your eyes. You will see slightly different images if you put your hand over each eye one at a time. It’s the same with your ears, it’s just that typically, you never notice it.
When your brain can’t efficiently combine the two sounds from your ears because they are too different, you have this condition of diplacusis. Monaural diplacusis is a result of hearing loss in only one ear while binaural diplacusis is caused by hearing loss in both.
Diplacusis comes in two forms
Different people are impacted in different ways by diplacuses. However, there are usually two basic types of diplacusis:
- Diplacusis echoica: This happens when the pitch is mostly the same from ear to ear, but due to your hearing loss, the timing is out of whack. This might cause echoes (or, rather, artifacts that sound like echoes). This can also cause difficulty with regard to understanding speech.
- Diplacusis dysharmonica: This form of diplacusis happens when the pitch of the right ear and the pitch of the left ear are hearing sound as two different pitches. So the sound will be distorted when somebody speaks with you. Perhaps your right ear thinks the sound is low-pitched and your left ear hears the sound as high-pitched. This can cause those sounds to be hard to make out.
Symptoms of diplacusis
The symptoms of diplacusis could include:
- Off timing hearing
- Hearing echoes where they don’t actually exist.
- Off pitch hearing
Having said that, it’s useful to view diplacusis as similar to double vision: It’s normally a symptom of something else, but it can create some of its own symptoms. (It’s the effect, essentially, not the cause.) Diplacusis, in these circumstances, is most likely a symptom of hearing loss. So your best strategy would be to Schedule an appointment with us for a hearing exam.
What 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 may develop diplacusis for several specific reasons:
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even normal allergies can cause your ear canal to swell. This swelling, while a natural response, can impact the way sound moves through your inner ear and to your brain.
- Earwax: Your ability to hear can be affected by an earwax blockage. That earwax blockage can trigger diplacusis.
- Noise-related damage to your ears: If you’ve experienced enough loud sounds to damage your ears, it’s possible that the same damage has brought about hearing loss, and as a result, diplacusis.
- A tumor: Diplacusis can, in rare cases, be caused by a tumor inside of your ear canal. But remain calm! They’re normally benign. But you should still talk to us about it.
Obviously, diplacusis and hearing loss have many of the same typical causes. Which means that if you’re experiencing diplacusis, it’s likely that something is interfering with your ability to hear. So you should definitely come in and talk to us.
How is diplacusis treated?
Depending on the root cause, there are a few possible treatments. If you have a blockage, treating your diplacusis will focus on clearing it out. However, diplacusis is frequently caused by permanent sensorineural hearing loss. In these situations, the best treatment options include:
- Hearing aids: Your hearing can be neutralized with the right set of hearing aids. Your diplacusis symptoms will gradually fade when you benefit from hearing aids. It’s important to get the proper settings on your hearing aids and you’ll need to have us help you with that.
- Cochlear implant: In circumstances where the hearing loss at the root of diplacusis is profound, a cochlear implant may be the only way to get relief from the symptoms.
A hearing exam is the first step to getting to the bottom of the problem. Think about it this way: whatever type of hearing loss is the cause of your diplacusis, a hearing test will be able to determine that (maybe you just think things sound weird at this point and you don’t even recognize it as diplacusis). We have really sensitive hearing tests nowadays and any inconsistencies with how your ears are hearing the world will be found.
Life is more fun when you can hear clearly
Getting the appropriate treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s a hearing aid or some other treatment option, means you’ll be more capable of participating in your daily life. Conversations will be easier. It will be easier to communicate 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.
