Are you going mad with that tinnitus in your ears? Learn whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause may be.
What is tinnitus?
A ringing, buzzing, or droning in the ears with no external cause of the sound is a condition called tinnitus. The term tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will my everyday living be impacted by tinnitus?
Tinnitus can interrupt personal connections in many frustrating ways. It’s normally an indication that you have damaged hearing or some underlying health condition and not a disease in and of itself. You may hear tinnitus in one ear or both ears and it can impede your ability to concentrate.
Tinnitus is always troublesome regardless of how it’s manifesting. influence your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be enduring or it can come and go. Short term varieties of tinnitus are typically triggered by extended exposure to loud noises, like a rock concert. Tinnitus has been known to co-occur with a few different medical issues.
Here are several situations that generally go along with tinnitus:
- Infection of the inner ear
- Sustained exposure to loud sound
- Changes in the structure of the ear bone
- Excessive earwax build-up
- Several medications
- Meniere’s Disease
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) triggered by a TMJ disorder
- Depression or anxiety
- Injuries that affect nerves of the ear
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor grows on the cranial nerve going from the brain to the inner ear
- Injuries to the neck or head
- Age-related hearing loss
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the delicate hairs used to transport sound, causing random transmissions of sound to your brain
Is it possible that my parents could have passed down the ringing in my ears?
Generally, tinnitus isn’t an inherited condition. However, your genes can play a part in this symptom. For example, ear bone changes that can lead to tinnitus can be passed down. Abnormal bone growth can cause these changes and can be passed down through genes. Here are a few other conditions you may have inherited that can cause tinnitus:
- 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 may have inherited.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should definitely come in for an assessment.
