A parent or grandparent with hearing loss can raise questions about your own ears, but family history doesn’t decide your hearing on its own. At Broadwater Hearing Care on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, board-certified audiologist and owner Susan E. Terry, Au.D., F-AAA, evaluates hearing within the context of your family’s history. When hearing loss is a known condition in your family, early testing and protective habits help preserve your hearing and address changes sooner.
How Do Altered Genes Lead to Hearing Loss?
Altered genes lead to hearing loss when the changes affect how the ear develops or functions. Most genetic hearing loss is sensorineural, meaning it involves the hair cells of the inner ear or the auditory nerve. It may be present at birth or develop later in life.
Genetic hearing loss is generally divided into two categories. Nonsyndromic hearing loss accounts for about 70% of genetic cases and occurs without other medical symptoms. Syndromic hearing loss makes up the remaining 30% and occurs alongside other health conditions, such as Usher, Pendred, and Waardenburg syndromes.
Will Your Hearing Loss Pass to Your Son or Daughter?
Whether your hearing loss passes to your son or daughter depends on the inheritance pattern of the specific gene involved. Depending on the pattern, a child’s chance may range from no risk to 50% or higher, and in many cases, parents with normal hearing can still have a child with genetic hearing loss.
The main inheritance patterns include:
- Autosomal dominant: Only one changed gene from one parent is needed, giving each child a 50% chance of inheriting the condition.
- Autosomal recessive: Both parents carry one changed gene without having hearing loss themselves, giving each child a 25% chance of inheriting the condition.
- X-linked: The changed gene is on the X chromosome, so males are more likely to be affected, while females are often carriers.
- Mitochondrial: The condition is passed only by the mother and can affect all of her children.
About 80% of nonsyndromic genetic hearing loss comes from autosomal recessive inheritance, which explains why most infants with hearing loss are born to parents with normal hearing. Even within the same family, severity and age of onset can vary from one person to another.
Can Hereditary Hearing Loss Begin Later in Life?
Hereditary hearing loss can begin later in life, although it may also be noticeable at birth or during childhood. Some forms are congenital and identified through newborn hearing screening, while others are progressive and develop gradually over years or decades.
Congenital hearing loss affects up to three in every 1,000 babies, and inherited genetic factors contribute to about 60% of hearing loss in infants. In young children, signs may include not reacting to loud sounds, not turning toward voices, or delays in speech and language development.
Later-onset genetic hearing loss often develops slowly, which can make it easy to overlook. Adults may notice:
- Difficulty following conversations in noisy places
- Asking others to repeat themselves
- Turning up the television or phone volume
- Ringing or buzzing in the ears
Because gradual changes can go unnoticed, family members are often the first to recognize them.
How Often Should You Have Your Hearing Checked in St. Petersburg?
You should have your hearing checked as soon as you notice changes, and with a family history of hearing loss, a baseline test followed by regular evaluations makes sense even before symptoms appear.
Almost all hospitals screen newborns for hearing loss within the first few days of life. Children who pass newborn screening but have a family history of hearing loss may still benefit from monitoring, since some genetic forms develop later.
For adults, a baseline hearing evaluation provides a reference point for tracking changes over time. Susan Terry can perform a comprehensive hearing test, discuss your family history, and recommend how often you should return for follow-up testing. When a genetic cause is suspected, she may recommend a referral for genetic counseling or testing. Currently, no genetic test can predict whether a person will develop age-related hearing loss, which makes regular hearing evaluations especially important.
How Can You Guard Your Hearing Against Genetic Risk?
You can guard your hearing against genetic risk by limiting noise exposure, using hearing protection, reviewing medications with your healthcare providers, managing your overall health, and scheduling regular hearing evaluations.
Because some genes can make the inner ear more vulnerable to damage, avoiding additional strain is especially important. Wearing earplugs or earmuffs around loud equipment, concerts, or firearms and keeping headphone volume at moderate levels can reduce noise exposure. Some medications can affect hearing, so tell your healthcare providers about a family history of hearing loss before starting new prescriptions.
Overall health also plays a role. Conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes may increase the risk of hearing loss, so managing these conditions supports long-term hearing health.
When hearing loss does develop, Susan Terry can recommend options such as hearing aids and track changes over time to adjust your care as needed.
Meet With Susan E. Terry, Au.D., at Broadwater Hearing Care
If hearing loss runs in your family, an evaluation with Susan Terry gives you a baseline to measure future changes against. That first hearing test also helps determine whether you need treatment now or continued monitoring.
Call 727-205-0134 or contact Broadwater Hearing Care to schedule an appointment at our Central Avenue office in St. Petersburg.