Possibly Physical and Hereditary?

[UpDownAround]

I have had hyperacusis for several years. I have type II bipolar disorder and that is a common potential cause. But mine is not the same in both ears. My left ear gets distortion and crackling at higher volumes. It's almost like someone is crumpling a paper grocery bag right at my left ear. This may be physical and not really related; hyperacusis usually kicks in before this and white noise (which typically does not trigger my hyperacusis) can cause this.

My 17 yo son also has exactly the same issue with his left ear. He also suffers from hyperacusis but not as frequently or as badly. He gets the crackling even without hyperacusis and there is a spot near the jaw joint where he can press with a finger and hear the crackling. I cannot find such a spot that mikes mine crackle.

 

[UpDownAround]

Following up with a couple of things.

One thing I forgot to mention is that my son does not have constant T.

The second is that I found that if I put my thumb over the ear canal and press/release to get the heartbeat sound from flexing the eardrum, I do hear the cracking in the left one only. It is absolutely a physical sound; I can control it to some degree with nuanced placement/movement of my thumb. My son having the same noise in the same spot without T leads my to believe it is an inherited physical defect.

 

[Kolisar]

Hi @UpDownAround. Let me start by saying two things first:

I am not a doctor, nor do I have any real medical training, so I am not qualified to comment medically.

Second, everyone experiences tinnitus differently, and there are multiple causes for tinnitus.

That being said, I am an identical twin, so, genetically, at least at birth, I was basically a genetic duplicate of my twin brother. I have had tinnitus for my entire life (at least as long as I can remember), but he does not.

Mine is one, anecdotal case, and I could have suffered some surf of acoustic trauma as an infant that my brother was spared from, but I at least want to present my situation as something to consider as you wonder about a possible genetic component to tinnitus.

 

[UpDownAround]

This is about H, not T. As mentioned, my son does not have T. I am curious if others have relevant knowledge about H being a separate hereditary syndrome with some physical basis.