Do you have ringing in your ears that’s driving you mad? Learn whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause might be.
Tinnitus, what exactly is it?
Tinnitus is the name describing a person’s perception of a ringing, droning, or buzzing in the ear with no external noises present to explain this experience. The word tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will tinnitus affect my everyday living?
Tinnitus can be frustrating and can interrupt intimate connections. It’s usually a sign that you have damaged hearing or some root health condition and not a disease in and of itself. Your concentration can be significantly interrupted when you begin to hear tinnitus in one or both ears.
Regardless of the way in which you’re experiencing tinnitus, it is always bothersome. impact your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be enduring or it can come and go. Temporary types of tinnitus are normally caused by prolonged exposure to loud sounds, like a rock concert. Tinnitus has been documented to manifest with a few different medical issues.
Here are several conditions that generally go along with tinnitus:
- The ear bone has undergone changes
- Meniere’s Disease
- Extended exposure to loud noise
- Excessive earwax accumulation
- Depression or anxiety
- Age-related hearing loss
- Different medications
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the delicate hairs used to transport sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor grows on the cranial nerve running from the inner ear to the brain
- Inner ear infections
- Trauma to the neck or head
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) related to a TMJ disorder
Is it possible that my parents may have passed down the ringing in my ears?
In general, tinnitus isn’t a hereditary condition. But the symptoms can be influenced by your genes. You can, for instance, inherit a tendency for your ear bone to change. Abnormal bone growth can cause these changes and can be passed down through family genes. Here are some other conditions you might have inherited that can cause tinnitus:
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Predisposition to anxiety or depression
- Specific diseases
The ringing in your ear isn’t directly inheritable, but you might have been genetically susceptible to the conditions that are breeding grounds for tinnitus.
If you have a history of tinnitus in your family, it’s truly in your best interest to make an appointment with us so we can evaluate your hearing.
