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 noise is a condition called tinnitus. The term tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will tinnitus impact my day to day living?
Tinnitus can disrupt personal connections in several annoying ways. It’s usually a sign that you have damaged hearing or some root health condition and not a disease in and of itself. Your ability to stay focused can be seriously interrupted when you begin to hear tinnitus in one or both ears.
Regardless of how you’re experiencing tinnitus, it’s always disruptive. Sleep loss, anxiety, and even depression can also be caused by tinnitus symptoms.
What are the causes of tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be long lasting or it can come and go. Temporary types of tinnitus are normally brought on by prolonged exposure to loud noises, like a rock concert. Tinnitus has been documented to co-occur with a few different medical issues.
A few of the circumstances that may play host to tinnitus include:
- Hearing loss related to aging
- Meniere’s Disease
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the delicate hairs used to conduct sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Numerous medications
- Anxiety or depression
- Infection of the inner ear
- Buildup of excessive earwax
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) caused by a TMJ disorder
- Head or neck traumas
- Exposure to loud noise for prolonged time periods
- A benign tumor, called acoustic neuroma, grows on cranial nerve
- The ear bone has changed
Is it possible that my parents may have passed down the ringing in my ears?
Tinnitus isn’t directly inherited. But the symptoms can be affected by your genes. You can, as an example, inherit a tendency for your ear bone to change. These changes are a consequence of abnormal bone growth that can be handed down through family lines. Here are a few other conditions you might have inherited that can result in tinnitus:
- Certain 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 disorders that are breeding grounds for tinnitus.
If you have a history of tinnitus in your family, it’s really in your best interest to make an appointment with us so we can assess your hearing.