Are you experiencing ringing in your ears that’s driving you crazy? Discover whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause may be.
Tinnitus, what exactly is it?
Tinnitus is the name referring to a person’s perception of a ringing, droning, or buzzing in the ear with no external noises present to explain this sensation. The word tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will my daily living be affected by tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be annoying and can disrupt intimate interactions. It’s usually a sign that you have damaged hearing or some underlying health condition and not a disease in and of itself. You might 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. Sleep loss, anxiety, and even depression can also be caused by tinnitus symptoms.
What are the causes of tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be persistent or temporary. Lengthy exposure to loud sound, such as a rock concert, is usually the cause of short-term tinnitus. There are a number of medical issues that tend to go hand-in-hand with tinnitus.
A few of the circumstances that may play host to tinnitus include:
- Head or neck traumas
- Age-related hearing loss
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to conduct sound, causing random transmissions of sound to your brain
- Various medications
- Accumulation of excessive earwax
- Depression or anxiety
- A benign tumor, called acoustic neuroma, forms on cranial nerve
- Bruxism, more commonly known as teeth grinding caused by temporomandibular joint issues, or TMJ disorder
- Infection of the inner ear
- Meniere’s Disease
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Changes in the composition of the ear bone
- Exposure to loud sound for extended periods of time
Is it possible that my parents could have passed down the ringing in my ears?
Tinnitus isn’t directly hereditary. But the symptoms can be affected by your genes. You can, as an example, inherit a tendency for your ear bone to change. These changes are a consequence of abnormal bone growth that can be passed down through family lines. A few of the other conditions that can result in ringing in the ear may be inherited from your parents, including:
- Certain diseases
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Predisposition to anxiety or depression
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 assessment.