Do you have ringing in your ears that’s driving you mad? Find out what causes tinnitus and whether you may have inherited it.
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 noises present to explain this experience. The word tinnitus translates to “ringing like a bell.”
How will my day-to-day living be affected by tinnitus?
Tinnitus can interrupt personal connections in numerous frustrating 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 ability to stay focused can be significantly disrupted 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 caused by tinnitus symptoms.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be persistent or temporary. Short term types of tinnitus are usually caused by extended exposure to loud noises, such as a rock concert. There are a number of medical issues that tend to go hand-in-hand with tinnitus.
Here are several situations that typically accompany tinnitus:
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor forms on the cranial nerve going from the inner ear to the brain
- Extended exposure to loud noise
- Excessive earwax accumulation
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) related to a TMJ disorder
- Various medications
- Depression or anxiety
- Inner ear infections
- The ear bone has undergone changes
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to transport sound, causing random transmissions of sound to your brain
- Trauma to the neck or head
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Age-related hearing impairment
- Meniere’s Disease
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 genes. For instance, ear bone changes that can result in tinnitus can be passed down. Irregular bone growth can cause these changes and can be handed down through genes. A few of the other conditions that can result in ringing in the ear may be inherited from your parents, including:
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Certain diseases
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
The ringing in your ear isn’t 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 truly in your best interest to schedule an appointment with us so we can assess your hearing.