Are you experiencing ringing in your ears that’s driving you mad? Learn whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause might be.
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the name referring to a person’s perception of a ringing, droning, or buzzing in the ear with no external stimulus present to explain this experience. The term tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will tinnitus impact my day to day living?
Tinnitus can interrupt personal connections in many annoying ways. It’s not a disease in and of itself, but it’s a symptom of other ailments or conditions in your life such as hearing loss or injury. You may hear tinnitus in one ear or both ears and it can hinder your ability to focus.
Tinnitus is always troublesome regardless of how it’s manifesting. influence your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What are the causes of tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be long lasting or it can come and go. Lengthy exposure to loud sound, like a rock concert, is typically the cause of short-term tinnitus. There are a few medical issues that tend to go hand-in-hand with tinnitus.
A few of the conditions that may play host to tinnitus include:
- Age-related hearing loss
- A benign tumor, called acoustic neuroma, grows on cranial nerve
- Infection of the inner ear
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to conduct sound, causing random transmissions of sound to your brain
- Changes in the composition of the ear bone
- Accumulation of excessive earwax
- Exposure to loud sound for extended time periods
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Anxiety or depression
- Bruxism, more commonly referred to as teeth grinding caused by temporomandibular joint problems, or TMJ disorder
- Several medications
- Meniere’s Disease
- Injuries to the neck or head
Could I have inherited this ringing in my ears from my parents?
In general, tinnitus isn’t a hereditary condition. But the symptoms can be affected by your genetics. For example, ear bone changes that can result in tinnitus can be passed down. These changes are caused by abnormal bone growth that can be passed down through family lines. Some of the other conditions that can cause ringing in the ear could be passed down from your parents, including:
- Specific diseases
- Predisposition to anxiety or depression
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
You can’t directly inherit tinnitus, but there are disorders that become breeding grounds for tinnitus which you might have inherited.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should definitely come in for an evaluation.