Do you have ringing in your ears that’s driving you mad? Find out what causes tinnitus and whether you may have inherited it.
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the name describing 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 tinnitus affect my everyday living?
Tinnitus can be frustrating and can interrupt intimate interactions. It isn’t 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 significantly disrupted when you start to hear tinnitus in one or both ears.
Tinnitus is always disruptive regardless of how it’s manifesting. impact your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be constant or temporary. Sustained exposure to loud sound, like a rock concert, is typically the cause of temporary tinnitus. Tinnitus has been documented to co-occur with a few different medical conditions.
A few of the circumstances that may play host to tinnitus include:
- Injuries that affect nerves of the ear
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to transport sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Inner ear infections
- Anxiety or depression
- Age-related hearing impairment
- Different medications
- Exposure to loud sound for extended time periods
- Bruxism, generally known as teeth grinding stemming from temporomandibular joint problems, or TMJ disorder
- Excessive earwax build-up
- Meniere’s Disease
- Trauma to the neck or head
- Changes in the composition of the ear bone
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor grows on the cranial nerve running from the brain to the inner ear
Could I have inherited this tinnitus from my parents?
Tinnitus isn’t directly hereditary. But the symptoms can be influenced by your genetics. For instance, ear bone changes that can lead to tinnitus can be passed down. These changes are related to abnormal bone growth that can be handed down through family lines. Some of the other conditions that can lead to ringing in the ear may be inherited from your parents, including:
- Specific diseases
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
The ringing in your ear is not directly inheritable, but you may have been genetically susceptible to the conditions that are breeding grounds for tinnitus.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should definitely come in for an assessment.