Are you going crazy with that tinnitus in your ears? Find out what causes tinnitus and whether you could have inherited it.
Tinnitus, what exactly is it?
A ringing, buzzing, or droning in the ears with no outside cause of the noise is a condition known as tinnitus. The direct translation of the term tinnitus is”ringing like a bell”.”
How will my daily living be affected by tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be aggravating and can disrupt intimate connections. It’s normally a sign that you have damaged hearing or some root 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 focus.
Regardless of the way in which you’re experiencing tinnitus, it’s always bothersome. Tinnitus can affect your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be constant or temporary. Short term types of tinnitus are normally triggered by prolonged exposure to loud sounds, like a rock concert. There are a few medical issues that tend to go hand-in-hand with tinnitus.
Here are several conditions that typically go along with tinnitus:
- Exposure to loud noise for sustained time periods
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the delicate hairs used to transport sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Hearing loss associated with aging
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor forms on the cranial nerve running from the brain to the inner ear
- Several medications
- Inner ear infections
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) caused by a TMJ disorder
- Anxiety or depression
- Changes in the composition of the ear bone
- Meniere’s Disease
- Trauma to the neck or head
- Accumulation of excessive earwax
Is it possible that my parents may have passed down the ringing in my ears?
In general, tinnitus isn’t an inherited condition. However, your genes can play a role in this symptom. You can, for instance, inherit a tendency for your ear bone to change. Irregular bone growth can trigger these changes and can be passed down through family genes. A few of the other conditions that can produce ringing in the ear may be passed down from your parents, including:
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
- Certain diseases
- 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 predisposed 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 evaluate your hearing.