Are you experiencing ringing in your ears that’s driving you mad? Find out what causes tinnitus and whether you might have inherited it.
Tinnitus, what exactly is it?
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 direct translation of the word tinnitus is”ringing like a bell”.”
How will tinnitus affect my everyday living?
Tinnitus can be annoying and can interrupt 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 is always disruptive. influence your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be enduring or it can come and go. Temporary types of tinnitus are usually brought on by extended exposure to loud sounds, such as a rock concert. Tinnitus has been known to co-occur with several different medical conditions.
Here are a few situations that generally go along with tinnitus:
- Accumulation of excessive earwax
- Teeth grinding (bruxism) caused by a TMJ disorder
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to transport sound, causing arbitrary transmissions of sound to your brain
- Injuries that affect nerves of the ear
- Acoustic neuroma where a benign tumor forms on the cranial nerve going from the brain to the inner ear
- Hearing impairment related to aging
- Changes in the composition of the ear bone
- Various medications
- Exposure to loud noise for sustained periods of time
- Inner ear infections
- Trauma to the neck or head
- Meniere’s Disease
- Depression or anxiety
Could I have inherited this tinnitus from my parents?
In general, tinnitus isn’t a hereditary condition. But the symptoms can be influenced by your genetics. You can, as an example, inherit a tendency for your ear bone to change. Irregular bone growth can trigger these changes and can be passed down through genes. A few of the other conditions that can lead to ringing in the ear may be passed down from your parents, including:
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
- Specific diseases
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 your family has a history of tinnitus, you should definitely come in for an evaluation.