The world was rather different millions of years ago. This steamy, volcano-laden landscape is where the long-necked Diplacusis roamed. Thanks to its extra long neck and tail, Diplacusis was so large that it was afraid of no predator.
Actually, Diplodocus is the long-necked dinosaur from the Jurassic Period. When you’re hearing two sounds at the same time, that’s a hearing condition called diplacusis.
While it’s not a “horrible lizard,” in many ways diplacusis can be a terror on its own, resulting in a hearing experience that feels confusing and out of sorts (often making communication challenging or impossible).
Perhaps your hearing has been a little strange lately
Usually, we regard hearing loss as our hearing becoming muted or quiet over time. Over time, the idea is, we simply hear less and less. But in some cases, hearing loss can manifest in some peculiar ways. Diplacusis is one of the weirder, and also more frustrating, of these hearing problems.
Diplacusis, what is it?
Exactly what is diplacusis? Diplacusis is a medical term that means, basically, “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. The same thing occurs with your eyes. You will see slightly different images if you cover each eye one at a time. Normally, with your ears, you won’t even notice it.
Diplacusis occurs when the hearing abilities of your ears vary so wildly that your brain can no longer merge them, at least not well. You can develop diplacusis due to hearing loss in one ear (called monaural diplacusis) or both ears (binaural diplacusis).
Two types of diplacusis
Different people are affected differently by diplacuses. Normally, though, individuals will experience one of the following two forms of diplacusis:
- Diplacusis dysharmonica: This form of diplacusis occurs when the pitch of the right ear and the pitch of the left ear seem off. So the sound will be distorted when someone talks to you. Maybe your right ear hears the sound as low-pitched and your left ear thinks the sound is high-pitched. Those sounds can be difficult to understand as a result.
- 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 different pitches. Artifacts like echoes can be the result. This can also cause difficulty with regard to understanding speech.
Symptoms of diplacusis
The symptoms of diplacusis can include:
- Off timing hearing
- Phantom echoes
- Off pitch hearing
Having said that, it’s helpful to view diplacusis as akin to double vision: It’s usually a symptom of something else, but it can create some of its own symptoms. (In other words, it’s the effect, not the cause.) In these circumstances, diplacusis is nearly always a symptom of hearing loss (either in one ear or in both ears). So your best course of action would be to Schedule an appointment with us for a hearing exam.
What causes diplacusis?
In a very general sense (and maybe not surprisingly), the causes of diplacusis align rather nicely with the causes of hearing loss. But you could develop diplacusis for numerous particular reasons:
- Your ears have damage caused by noise: 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 affected by an earwax blockage. That earwax blockage can lead to diplacusis.
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even normal allergies can cause your ear canal to become inflamed. This swelling is a typical immune response, but it can impact how sound waves travel into your inner ear (and therefore your brain).
- A tumor: Diplacusis can, in rare instances, be the result of a tumor inside of your ear canal. Don’t panic! They’re usually benign. But you should still talk to us about it.
Obviously, diplacusis and hearing loss have many of the same common causes. This means that if you’re experiencing diplacusis, it’s a good bet something is interfering with your ability to hear. Which means it’s a good idea to see a hearing specialist.
Treatments for diplacusis
Depending on the root cause, there are a few possible treatments. If your condition is related to an obstruction, like earwax, then treatment will focus on the removal of that obstruction. However, diplacusis is frequently brought on by permanent sensorineural hearing loss. In these situations, the best treatment options include:
- Hearing aids: Your hearing can be equalized with the right pair of hearing aids. This means that the symptoms of diplacusis will likely fade. It’s essential to get the correct 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.
All of this starts with a hearing test. Here’s how you can think about it: whatever kind of hearing loss is the source of your diplacusis, a hearing exam will be able to identify that (and, to be fair, you might not even recognize it as diplacusis, you may 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 found.
Life is more fun when you can hear well
You’ll be better able to enjoy your life when you get the correct treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s hearing aids or something else. 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 grandkids tell you all about what a Diplodocus is, and you (hopefully) won’t have any diplacusis to impede you.
If you believe you have diplacusis and want to have it checked, call today for an appointment.
