Do you have ringing in your ears that’s driving you mad? Discover whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause might be.
What is tinnitus?
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 direct translation of the term tinnitus is”ringing like a bell”.”
How will tinnitus impact my day to day living?
Tinnitus can interrupt personal connections in several frustrating ways. It’s not a disease in and of itself, but it’s a symptom of other ailments or conditions in your life including hearing loss or injury. Your ability to stay focused can be seriously interrupted when you start to hear tinnitus in one or both ears.
Regardless of the way in which you’re experiencing tinnitus, it’s always disruptive. influence your sleep and even cause anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be long lasting or it can come and go. Temporary types of tinnitus are normally brought on by extended exposure to loud sounds, like a rock concert. Tinnitus has been known to manifest with several different medical conditions.
A few of the conditions that may play host to tinnitus include:
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Changes in the structure of the ear bone
- Anxiety or depression
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor forms on the cranial nerve going from the brain to the inner ear
- Trauma to the neck or head
- Excessive earwax build-up
- Exposure to loud sound for extended periods of time
- Meniere’s Disease
- Infection of the inner ear
- Bruxism, generally referred to as teeth grinding caused by temporomandibular joint problems, or TMJ disorder
- Hearing loss associated with aging
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to conduct sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Various medications
Is it possible that my parents could have passed down the ringing in my ears?
Generally, tinnitus isn’t an inherited condition. But the symptoms can be affected by your genetics. For instance, ear bone changes that can result in tinnitus can be passed down. Abnormal bone growth can trigger these changes and can be passed down through genes. Here are a few other conditions you could have inherited that can result in tinnitus:
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Specific diseases
You can’t directly inherit tinnitus, but there are disorders that become breeding grounds for tinnitus which you may have inherited.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should certainly come in for an assessment.