GJB2-Related Hearing Loss Inheritance Patterns

How does ethnicity and race affect your risk of inherited hearing loss?

How does ethnicity and race affect your risk of GJB2-related hearing loss?

Inherited hearing loss occurs in all ethnicities.

However, the variants in GJB2 we test for are most common in the ethnicities listed below. Although people of other ethnicities still have inherited hearing loss, it is unknown if they have different variants in GJB2 or variants in other genes entirely. Studies to answer these questions are ongoing.

How likely someone of this background is to be a carrier:

What role do nongenetic factors play in inherited hearing loss?

What role do nongenetic factors play in GJB2-related hearing loss?

There is no scientific evidence that your lifestyle choices will affect your chances of being a carrier for GJB2 variants, other variants associated with inherited hearing loss, or for developing the condition.

However, a number of nongenetic factors can cause hearing loss at birth. The risk of having hearing loss at birth are higher if:

• A baby was born prematurely (too early)
• A baby needed the help of a ventilator to breathe
• A mother has a certain type of infection during her pregnancy
• A baby or child has a certain type of infection

GJB2-related hearing loss resources

Mayoclinic.org Genetics Home Reference