palinacousis

Etymology

From palin- + -acousis.

palinacousis means an auditory form of perseveration: continuing to hear a sound after the physical noise has disappeared. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.

Why “palinacousis” is a great word

PALINACOUSIS — [Noun] A rare auditory phenomenon, often of neurological origin, in which a sound continues to be perceived after its external source has ceased. From the Greek palin ("again, back") + akousis ("hearing"). Unlike tinnitus, the perception of an internally generated phantom sound, or palinopsia, its silent, visual counterpart, palinacousis is the ghostly echo of a sound that was authentically present. It is the car engine that rumbles on in the silence of a stopped garage, the guest's voice that continues its anecdote in the empty room, or the struck piano key that refuses to decay—an aural afterimage where the past develops a stubborn momentum of its own.

noun

An auditory form of perseveration: continuing to hear a sound after the physical noise has disappeared.“Palinacousis is often associated with lesions of the temporal lobe.”