I would like to offer a more comical tinnitus anecdote as someone with a moderate hereditary hearing impairment. I have always had tinnitus for as long as I remember. Usually it's a constant ringing that gets more intense until it stops.
When I was very young I described it to the school district audiologist as "hearing trains", or at least that's what I remember of trying to describe the sensation as a five year old.
It never really bothered me to be honest. I was always a little baffled when I read stories about it ruining someone's life. Then two years ago I had just moved into a new house. After returning from a roadtrip I started hearing what I was convinced was a smoke detector beeping due to low battery in mostly my left ear. I looked everywhere for the source of the beep. In the attic, in the crawlspace, in the garage, everywhere. I started to wonder if maybe it was in my head, but from time to time I would hear the beep and once again scour the house for the source of the mystery beep.
Finally, I went on another trip and lo and behold, I heard the beep in the dead of night in my hotel room. After that, I knew it was a new tinnitus symptom. My theory is that possibly having the windows down while I was driving on such a long trip caused new hearing loss and produced new tinnitus symptoms. Luckily, I feel that being able to recognize that it is no different than the tinnitus I have always had, and that it is something outside of my control seems to allow me to remain unbothered once again.
It never really bothered me to be honest. I was always a little baffled when I read stories about it ruining someone's life. Then two years ago I had just moved into a new house. After returning from a roadtrip I started hearing what I was convinced was a smoke detector beeping due to low battery in mostly my left ear. I looked everywhere for the source of the beep. In the attic, in the crawlspace, in the garage, everywhere. I started to wonder if maybe it was in my head, but from time to time I would hear the beep and once again scour the house for the source of the mystery beep.
Finally, I went on another trip and lo and behold, I heard the beep in the dead of night in my hotel room. After that, I knew it was a new tinnitus symptom. My theory is that possibly having the windows down while I was driving on such a long trip caused new hearing loss and produced new tinnitus symptoms. Luckily, I feel that being able to recognize that it is no different than the tinnitus I have always had, and that it is something outside of my control seems to allow me to remain unbothered once again.