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Comment by Arch-TK | Hacker News Reader

I've had a low grade (although who knows, it's not like I can hear someone else's tinnitus to compare) tinnitus for as long as I remember. For my childhood I thought it was just normal to hear this noise when there was no external source of other sound.

Honestly, I never felt particularly negative about it.

I guess if you never know what true silence sounds like, you never know what you are missing.

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Similar story here. I hear something like CRT whine all the time (except higher than the typical 15Khz NTSC tube whine). When I was a kid I played with the SOUND statement in GW-BASIC and figured out my tinnitus s was between 17 and 18 Khz (listening for bleating interference between my laptop speaker and the tinnitus). Today my hearing tops out between 12 and 13 Khz but I assume the tinnitus whine is still the same old frequency.

My daughter has it, too. My wife doesn't, but my daughter has described it to me.

I haven't felt negative about it except for the time I visited an anechoic chamber exhibit at a local museum (COSI in Columbus, OH) in my early 40s. It really messed with my perception and the tinnitus was much louder than normal for days after. Even thinking about it makes me edgy.

Same here. A few years ago I thought maybe the ringing isn't normal. It hadn't occurred to me before that.

I found a YouTube video of a "tinnitus demo" with the right sound and frequency. I could only start hearing it at about 80% volume. I gave my headphones to my partner and she said it was unbearable. I guess I'm used to my normal.

I slightly regret knowing about it, I seem to be paying more attention to it now.

I think that's most people. I never even knew that I had tinnitus (still don't know if I do frankly) because if you've put me in a dead silent room I've always heard some very low kind of 'static' for a lack of a better term. Most people I've ever talked to say the same thing, very few people have ever told me they hear absolutely nothing. Only after I kept reading about it did I start to notice it more, I think there's a really big psychological element to it.

Tinnitus (at least mine) sounds like a quieter version of the high pitched noise that movies like to use to emulate tinnitus due to a loud noise (explosion).

It's a quieter version of the tinnitus you can personally get if you are close to a loud noise (don't do this intentionally, it is an indication that you've caused yourself some hearing damage).

I've never heard static, I think that honestly sounds closer to what might actually be termed a noise floor. I know what a noise floor sounds like, and I've never heard a noise floor just due to quiet conditions...

IDK, like I said, unfortunately science hasn't found a way to easily and temporarily swap ears.

Same.

I'm half convinced it's something like blood vessels too close to sound receptor thingies in my ear. Or something similar.

I had a hearing test done a few years ago and my hearing is actually slightly above average for my age.

It would be nice to not have it, but whatever.

My hearing is still great, and I haven't noticed it deteriorate (I'm 29, and I've always been careful with my ears as I value having good hearing). I can hear switching noise (from power supplies) and those animal/human deterrent devices.

I don't think my tinnitus is from hearing damage.

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