The world was rather different millions of years ago. The long-necked Diplacusis roamed this volcano-laden landscape. Diplacusis was so large, thanks to its long tail and neck, that no other predators were a threat.
Actually, Diplodocus is the long-necked dinosaur from the Jurassic Period. Diplacusis is a hearing condition that causes you to hear two sounds instead of one.
Diplacusis is an affliction which can be challenging and confusing causing difficulty with communication.
Perhaps your hearing has been a bit strange lately
Usually, we think of hearing loss as our hearing becoming 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. One of the most fascinating (or, possibly, frustrating) such presentations is a condition called diplacusis.
What is diplacusis?
So, what is diplacusis? The meaning of the medical name diplacusis is simply “double hearing”. Normally, your brain gets information from the right ear and information from the left ear and joins them harmoniously into one sound. That’s what you hear. Your eyes are doing the same thing. You will see slightly different images if you put your hand over each eye one at a time. Your ears are the same, it’s just that typically, you don’t notice it.
Diplacusis occurs when the hearing abilities of your ears differ so wildly that your brain can no longer combine them, at least not very well. You can develop diplacusis as a result of hearing loss in one ear (called monaural diplacusis) or both ears (binaural diplacusis).
Two types of diplacusis
Different people are impacted in different ways by diplacuses. However, there are usually two basic types of diplacusis:
- Diplacusis echoica: With this, what you hear will sound off because your brain receives the sound from each ear out of sync with the other instead of hearing two separate pitches. This might cause echoes (or, rather, artifacts that sound similar to echoes). And understanding speech can become complicated as a result.
- 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 speaks with you. Perhaps your right ear hears the sound as low-pitched and your left ear thinks the sound is high-pitched. Those sounds can be hard to understand consequently.
Diplicusis symptoms
Here are some symptoms of diplacusis:
- Off pitch hearing
- Off timing hearing
- Hearing echoes where they don’t actually exist.
Having said that, it’s helpful to think of diplacusis as similar to double vision: It’s usually a symptom of something else, but it can create some of its own symptoms. (Essentially, it’s the effect, not the cause.) In these circumstances, diplacusis is almost always a symptom of hearing loss (either in one ear or in both ears). Consequently, if you experience diplacusis, you should probably make an appointment with us.
What causes diplacusis?
In a very general sense (and maybe not surprisingly), the causes of diplacusis line up rather nicely with the causes of hearing loss. But you may experience diplacusis for numerous particular reasons:
- Earwax: In some instances, an earwax blockage can hinder your hearing. That earwax obstruction can lead to diplacusis.
- An infection: Ear infections, sinus infections, or even just plain old allergies can cause your ear canal to swell. This inflammation is a typical immune reaction, but it can impact how sound waves move through your inner ear (and therefore your brain).
- Your ears have damage related to noise: If you’ve experienced hearing loss as a result of noise damage, it’s feasible that it could cause diplacusis.
- A tumor: Diplacusis can, in rare situations, be caused by a tumor inside of your ear canal. Don’t panic! In most instances they’re benign. Still, it’s something you should speak with your hearing specialist about!
It’s obvious that there are many of the same causes of diplacusis and hearing loss. Which means that if you have diplacusis, it’s a good bet something is impeding your ability to hear. So you should absolutely come in and talk to us.
Treatments for diplacusis
Depending on the main cause, there are several possible treatments. If you have an obstruction, treating your diplacusis will center around clearing it out. But irreversible sensorineural hearing loss is more frequently the cause. Here are a few treatment options if that’s the situation:
- Hearing aids: The right set of hearing aids can equalize how your ears hear again. Your diplacusis symptoms will gradually fade when you benefit from hearing aids. You’ll want to consult us about finding the correct settings for your hearing aids.
- Cochlear implant: A cochlear implant may be the only way of managing diplacusis if the root cause is profound hearing loss.
A hearing exam is the first step to getting it all figured out. 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 establish that (and, to be fair, you may not even recognize it as diplacusis, you might just think stuff sounds weird these days). Modern hearing tests are quite sensitive, and good at finding inconsistencies between how your ears hear the world.
Hearing clearly is more fun than not
You’ll be better able to enjoy your life when you get the appropriate treatment for your diplacusis, whether that’s hearing aids or some other treatment. It will be easier to carry on conversations. 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 get in the way.
If you believe you have diplacusis and want to have it checked, give us a call for an appointment.