Abstract
To clarify the possible mechanism causing binaural diplacusis with low-tone hearing loss, two psychoacoustic experiments were performed with 20 healthy subjects, using harmonic complex tones. In the first experiment, two tones were presented unilaterally, either from the right or left side. One of the tones presented was higher in frequency in terms of the fundamental component, but lower or equal in frequency in terms of the highest component, than the other tone. The subjects were asked which tone was higher in pitch after listening to both tones. They were also asked to compare tones in which low-tone components were eliminated. In the second experiment, the subjects heard these complex tones binaurally, with low-tone components eliminated in one ear. In the first experiment, most subjects perceived pitch direction, that is, higher or lower, in a reverse way when low-tone components were eliminated from the complex tones. In the second experiment, approximately half of all subjects heard the tones at different pitches in both ears. Under certain conditions, complex tone stimulation may induce binaural diplacusis when low-tone hearing is lost in one ear.
Highlights
Binaural diplacusis is defined as the phenomenon of hearing the same tone at different pitches in both ears
When it comes to the evaluation of pitch shift and diplacusis, one should pay attention to the features of complex tones that we always hear in our everyday life
Complex tone stimulation may induce binaural diplacusis when low-tone hearing is impaired in one ear, there may be other mechanisms causing this phenomenon
Summary
Binaural diplacusis is defined as the phenomenon of hearing the same tone at different pitches in both ears. For the assessment of diplacusis, pitchmatching tests have been conducted and indicate that the perceived pitch in the impaired ear shifts to the higher-frequency side, this trend was not typically observed in patients with low-tone hearing loss [2,3]. Studies indicate that the affected ear can perceive lower, higher, or equal pitch compared to the opposite, unaffected ear [3,5]. These subjective variations in pitch are generally explained in terms of different stages of the disease
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