Are you going mad with that tinnitus in your ears? Find out what causes tinnitus and whether you could have inherited it.
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the term 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 direct translation of the term tinnitus is”ringing like a bell”.”
How will tinnitus affect my daily living?
Tinnitus can be aggravating and can disrupt intimate connections. It isn’t a disease in and of itself, but it’s a symptom of other ailments or circumstances in your life like hearing loss or injury. Your concentration can be seriously interrupted when you start to hear tinnitus in one or both ears.
Tinnitus is always troublesome regardless of how it’s manifesting. impact your sleep and even trigger anxiety and depression.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can be constant or temporary. Sustained exposure to loud sound, like a rock concert, is typically the cause of temporary tinnitus. Tinnitus has been documented to co-occur with several different medical conditions.
A few of the circumstances that could play host to tinnitus include:
- Changes in the structure of the ear bone
- Anxiety or depression
- Meniere’s Disease
- Injuries that impact nerves of the ear
- Head or neck traumas
- A benign tumor, called acoustic neuroma, forms on cranial nerve
- Accumulation of excessive earwax
- Bruxism, generally known as teeth grinding caused by temporomandibular joint problems, or TMJ disorder
- Inner ear infections
- Hearing loss associated with aging
- Inner ear cell damage and irritation of the sensitive hairs used to transport sound, causing random transmissions of sound to your brain
- Exposure to loud noise for extended periods of time
- Several medications
Could I have inherited this tinnitus from my parents?
In general, tinnitus isn’t an inherited condition. 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 related to irregular 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:
- Being predisposed to depression or anxiety
- Certain diseases
- Being prone to inner ear infections or wax build-up
You can’t directly inherit tinnitus, but there are disorders that become breeding grounds for tinnitus which you could have inherited.
If your family has a history of tinnitus, you should definitely come in for an assessment.