The world was rather different millions of years ago. The long-necked Diplacusis wandered this volcano-laden landscape. Thanks to its extra long neck and tail, Diplacusis was so large that it feared no predator.
Actually, the long-necked dinosaur from the Jurassic Period is known as 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 (often making communication difficult or impossible).
Perhaps you’ve been hearing some strange things
Usually, we think of hearing loss as our hearing getting muted or quiet over time. Over time, the story goes, we just hear less and less. But there are some other, not so well known, types of hearing loss. Diplacusis is one of the stranger, and also more frustrating, of these hearing conditions.
What is diplacusis?
So, what’s diplacusis? Diplacusis is a medical term that means, basically, “double hearing”. Typically, your brain gets signals from your right ear and signals from the left ear and marries them harmoniously into one 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. Normally, with your ears, you won’t even 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 due to hearing loss in both.
Diplacusis comes in two forms
Different individuals are affected differently by diplacuses. Usually, 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 out of whack. Artifacts like echoes can be the result. And understanding speech can become challenging because of this.
- Diplacusis dysharmonica: When the pitch of the right and left ear are off it’s an indication of this form of diplacusis. So the sound will be distorted when someone talks to you. One side might sound high-pitched and the other low-pitched. This can cause those sounds to be difficult to understand.
Diplacusis symptoms
Here are a few symptoms of diplacusis:
- Phantom echoes
- Hearing that seems off (in timing).
- Off pitch hearing
The condition of double vision may be a useful comparison: 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. Consequently, if you experience diplacusis, you should probably make an appointment with us.
What are the causes diplacusis?
The causes of diplacusis line up quite well, in a general sense, with the causes of hearing loss. But you may experience diplacusis for numerous specific reasons:
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even normal allergies can cause your ear canal to become inflamed. This swelling is a normal immune reaction, but it can impact how sound waves travel into your inner ear (and therefore your brain).
- Noise-related damage to your ears: If you’ve experienced enough loud noises to damage your hearing, it’s possible that the same damage has brought about hearing loss, and as a result, diplacusis.
- Earwax: In some instances, an earwax blockage can hinder your ability to hear. That earwax blockage can trigger diplacusis.
- A tumor: Diplacusis can, in rare cases, be the result of a tumor inside of your ear canal. But stay calm! They’re normally benign. But you should still talk to us about it.
It’s clear that there are a number of the same causes of hearing loss and diplacusis. This means that if you have diplacusis, it’s likely that something is impeding your ability to hear. So you should definitely come in and talk to us.
Treatments for diplacusis
Depending on the underlying cause, there are several possible treatments. If your condition is caused by an obstruction, like earwax, then treatment will concentrate on the removal of that obstruction. However, diplacusis is frequently caused by irreversible sensorineural hearing loss. In these cases, the best treatment options include:
- Hearing aids: The right set of hearing aids can equalize how your ears hear again. This means that the symptoms of diplacusis will most likely fade. It’s important to get the correct settings on your hearing aids and you’ll want to have us help you with that.
- Cochlear implant: A cochlear implant might be the only way of dealing with diplacusis if the root cause is profound hearing loss.
A hearing exam is the first step to getting it all figured out. Think about it this way: a hearing exam will be able to determine what kind of hearing loss is at the root of your diplacusis (maybe you just think things sound weird at this point and you don’t even recognize it as diplacusis). Modern hearing assessments are really sensitive, and good at finding inconsistencies between how your ears hear the world.
Life is more fun when you can hear well
You’ll be better able to enjoy your life when you get the proper treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s hearing aids or something else. It will be easier to carry on conversations. Keeping up with your family will be easier.
So there will be no diplacusis symptoms getting in the way of your ability to hear your grandchildren telling you all about the Diplodocus.
Call today for an appointment to get your diplacusis symptoms assessed.
