Are you going crazy with that tinnitus in your ears? Learn whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause might 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 stimulus present to explain this experience. The term tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will my daily living be impacted by tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be frustrating and can interrupt intimate connections. It isn’t a disease in and of itself, but it’s a symptom of other ailments or conditions in your life like 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 disruptive 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 constant or temporary. Short term types of tinnitus are normally brought on by prolonged exposure to loud noises, such as a rock concert. Tinnitus has been known to manifest with several different medical conditions.
Here are a few situations that typically accompany tinnitus:
- The ear bone has undergone changes
- Meniere’s Disease
- Various medications
- Depression or anxiety
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) triggered by a TMJ disorder
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Infection of the inner ear
- Exposure to loud noise for sustained periods of time
- Buildup of excessive earwax
- Head or neck traumas
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor grows on the cranial nerve going from the brain to the inner ear
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to conduct sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Hearing loss associated with aging
Could I have inherited this ringing in my ears from my parents?
Tinnitus isn’t directly hereditary. But the symptoms can be influenced by your genetics. You can, for instance, inherit a tendency for your ear bone to change. Irregular bone growth can cause these changes and can be handed down through family genes. A few of the other conditions that can cause ringing in the ear could be inherited from your parents, including:
- Specific diseases
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Predisposition to anxiety or depression
The ringing in your ear is not directly inheritable, but you may have been genetically susceptible to the disorders that are breeding grounds for tinnitus.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should certainly come in for an assessment.
