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I have had tinnitus all my life, and honestly did not know the ringing wasnt a normal thing until I watched an episode of Archer. Becoming truly aware of it was a terrible day for me.

Generally, it isn't something that is treatable, but in my opinion it is better to have it at an earlier age, when your brain is more adaptable, as it makes it easier to adapt to the constant ringing, and learn ways to tune it out.

If you need to, get some sort of white noise/nature sound generator and keep it playing during the quiet times, and focus on those noises. I find that tinnitus is worst when you are focusing on it, and the more you think about it, the more you notice it.

One thing I have found to NEVER work is mentally playing with the volume/pitch - those sliders only go up, and stay up until I have focused on something else for awhile.

Ive had it since I was pretty young. I can't hear it unless I try- for example, your post made me become conscious of it, and there it is. It comes and goes, I notice. It doesn't bother me at all, essentially

My tinnitus sounds like the insects I could hear at night when I was younger in the tropics.

I don't live there anymore and the tinnitus feels comforting because of it. It doesn't distress me at all.

The screech in my left ear started almost 20 years ago. The first year was extremely annoying but now i don't notice it much unless i think about it. If I'm sick or really tired i think it does make me a little extra irritable.

taking any blood thinners? they can cause/worsen the condition as long as you’re taking them.

I've had it for over a decade now. Given I love live music and music production is a hobby of mine, it was pretty sad when the penny dropped for me that: yes, this ringing isn't gonna go away like it used to, a day or two after a gig.

Some kind of white noise or similar (I like rain sounds) when trying to sleep is an essential for me. ANC headphones will stop you from causing further damage as long as you keep your volumes at healthy levels (the ANC means you can use lower volumes that feel louder than they actually are).

Also, get yourself some loop experience (or similar) ear plugs for gigs that are designed to let through a bit more in the range music is generally played, whilst blocking loads of the frequencies you don't even hear. It's important to make sure you don't cause further damage now, I know some people get the "well I've already got it now, why bother" thought, but sadly you can always worsen things.

Generally I have gotten used to it tbh, I don't spend loads of my time thinking about it at least and with things like white noise for sleep, I can generally work around any issues.

Good you say you'll visit the doctor, it's very often caused by sound related hearing damage, but tinnitus can be a symptom of all sorts of other things, some of which are indeed temporary.

Finally if it is hearing damage, there's actually been some progress in new therapies for it in recent years. I read recently about a (currently pretty pricey, unfortunately) treatment where they sort of "recalibrate" your brain to filter out the signal generated by the damage. It apparently has pretty good results, I'm thinking of looking into it myself at some point

I've grown used to it. I had it since I was a child, and it became a lot worse after an accident in my 20s. I've seen medic but they couldn't really help. I think it became quieter since then, but I can still hear it well. I'm in my 40s now and I couldn't care less.

I hope it will be the same for you.

I realized I had it a few years ago. I liked loud music and headphones so it wasn't much of a surprise when it happened.

Still I had a woe-is-me self pitying stage where I obsessed over it. I hyper fixated over the sound it made, I did online hearing test to see how bad my hearing was, read through internet fourms seeing if there were cures to tinnitus or hoping it was a reversable kind caused by earwax or some bs. Typical human copium psychological stuff, you know the drill.

Ultimately its one of those things where I learned to accept it as life. It could be worse, and hoped one day it lessens or even recovers. And in the meantime I just tune it out with basic background noise and plain old learned cognitive filtering. I think it may have even lessened a little over the years too.

I've had it at least my entire adult life, so long I don't remember not having it. In my 40's now, but yeah, it sucks.

If you see a specialist/audiologist, they'll tell you there are two main kinds. Neurological (brain issue, no cure or treatment) or lymbic (physical issue, easier to determine, likely treatable/curable if they can find the cause).

It can also be to do with things like blood pressure or blood vessel dilation.

For example I often get it when I go to bed after a couple of drinks.

So it's entirely possible there's a contextual reason that you can fix if it's important to you.

I've had tinnitus since I was a child. Like others in this thread I learned to live with it, and I don't need white noise to tune it out. You might end up being able to do the same. Like the others it seems to get louder if my blood pressure goes up.

Is it still going? Afaik tinnitus is getting that ringing in your ears, but forever.

Plenty of times I just randomly hear a ringing in my ears; but it generally only lasts for a moment. IIRC that is usually just caused by a muscle spasm in or around the ear.

Yes. Fighting it all my life. I first noticed when I went to the desert and it was so silent all I could hear was this high pitched squeal like a old CRT tv.

I've been to doctors, sometimes they'll give you basically ear viagra, to increase blood flow. That can help.

Changing my diet significantly helped, improving blood flow to all of my extremities including my ears significantly reduced my tinnitus symptoms. If you have high blood pressure, or any other metabolic syndrome factors, improving that may also improve your tinnitus

Few times I've had this and the doctor just cleaned my ear and it was gone. In ear headphones can cause that by pushing earwax back. I stopped using in ear headphones and haven't had that happen in years. Just giving you a reason to stay positive, tinnitus can cause by some easily fixed things.

There are two causes for tinnitus. Your brain is hearing sounds that aren't there and poor blood circulation at your ear. I was 29 when I developed tinnitus after scuba diving in deep water. Ginkgo biloba helped me in a few hours after taking it. It's cheap and available at drug stores if you're interested in trying it

About 8 years ago I got out of the shower and was cleaning the water out of my right ear (as I usually did) and I must have done it wrong that time, as when I went to lay down that night I heard this very annoying high pitch sound from that ear. I might have looked around to see if that sound was coming from something (maybe from my computer, other electronics, or something outside). But no, it was from my ear.

Took about 2-3 years for me to be able to completely tune it out when there's silence. Sometimes I miss being able to hear nothing when it's quiet, but now I have ringing in both ears so it's really easy to ignore it.

It might suck for a while until your brain is able to tune it out, but it'll be easier someday.

If there's no physical damage (i.e. Loud music), and there's no nerve inflammation ( Ive been fighting this since I got covid a few years ago) or some sort of infection.. just go get your ears cleaned and you'll most likely be fine.