Are you going crazy with that tinnitus in your ears? Discover whether your tinnitus is inherited or what the cause may be.
Tinnitus, what exactly is it?
A ringing, buzzing, or droning in the ears with no outside cause of the sound is a condition known as tinnitus. The term tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will tinnitus impact my everyday living?
Tinnitus can disrupt personal connections in numerous annoying ways. It’s normally an indication 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 start to hear tinnitus in one or both ears.
Tinnitus is always troublesome regardless of how it’s manifesting. Sleep loss, anxiety, and even depression can also be triggered by tinnitus symptoms.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be long lasting or it can come and go. Sustained exposure to loud noise, such as a rock concert, is typically the cause of temporary tinnitus. There are a few medical issues that tend to go hand-in-hand with tinnitus.
A few of the circumstances that could play host to tinnitus include:
- Prolonged exposure to loud noise
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to transport sound, causing random transmissions of sound to your brain
- Meniere’s Disease
- Excessive earwax accumulation
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor forms on the cranial nerve going from the brain to the inner ear
- Inner ear infections
- Several medications
- Age-related hearing impairment
- Injuries that affect nerves of the ear
- Depression or anxiety
- Bruxism, more commonly referred to as teeth grinding stemming from temporomandibular joint issues, or TMJ disorder
- Injuries to the neck or head
- Changes in the composition of the ear bone
Is it possible that my parents may have passed down the ringing in my ears?
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 inherited. These changes are caused by abnormal bone growth that can be passed down through family lines. Here are some other conditions you could have inherited that can result in tinnitus:
- Certain diseases
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
The ringing in your ear isn’t directly inheritable, but you might have been genetically susceptible to the disorders that are breeding grounds for tinnitus.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should definitely come in for an evaluation.