Binaural diplacusis or interaural pitch difference is the different perception of a single auditory stimulus by the two ears; the difference may be in tone (disharmonic d.) or in timing (echo d.).
ToneTester tests your ears for differences in how they hear pitches (“binaural diplacusis” or “interaural pitch difference”). You adjust a slider until your ears hear the same pitch, and then ToneTester tells you the actual pitch difference.
Bags says
i am a guitarist, just had an ear infection. now i hear a lower pitch in my left ear to my right. its about a semitone. a guitar solo is now a cacophony of noise as its all out of tune!
what i want to know is whether its permanent. i have had it for 1 day at this point and if its permanent i dont know how i will handle it. have always loved guitar but now a single note is horrible. praying it will pass. if anyone knows can u post please
Graham English says
I’m not a doctor so I really can’t comment on that. You should see a specialist. But I’m really curious what’s going on so if it’s not too much trouble, please keep me posted. Thanks 🙂
Bags says
no problem..
today its affecting voices. u know that chipmunk effect u can add to ur soundcard.. squeaky high voice, well when my baby cries now its one normal and one chipmunk.
musical chords dont seem affected. just single notes. i guess its individual frequencies. cant tune a guitar now without an earplug lol
will let u know how it pans out
Graham English says
Yes, please do! It’s very strange.
Bags says
well, its what 3 weeks later? after getting louder as the ear healed and more noticeable, overnight 3 days ago it went. all ok now. thank god for that 🙂
Graham English says
🙂 Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you’re better.
Dave says
I just recently started experiencing pronounced distortion in my hearing. Tones sound exactly like they are process through a “ring modulator” device. When playing guitar, individual notes sound like bells, and the pitch is clearly skewed. My wife’s voice, especially over the phone, sounds higher and thinner.
From what I’ve found thus far on the ‘net, the term “disharmonic diplacusis” seems to fit the description of what I’m experiencing.
I have been fighting a bad cough for over a month, and have experienced congestion in my sinuses. My doctor checked my ears and noticed some swelling, but didn’t comment any further on this. I was prescribed some cough medicine and an inhaler to open up my lungs.
In the past, I have experienced sinus problems that dulled my hearing, but it always went away. I have never experienced this “ring modulator” effect, and it concerns me greatly. Today, the effect appears to have diminished slightly, but I intend to see my doctor about it. I am hoping the condition will stop once the congestion and swelling in my ears is gone.
I do suffer from tinnitus, which makes me additionally concerned about compound hearing issues. BTW, the ringing in my ears from tinnitus is not effected with this “disharmonic diplacusis” effect. Its just the same old, constant, annoying pitch.
If anyone has any suggestions, or links to information on how to diagnose this, please share!