As I get older, I hear some sounds I am certain are like tinnitus. It terrifies me because I love and need quiet. But so far I've been able to move around, create some other sounds, and the fake sound stops. But tinnitus is a disease of old age.
Sorta OT, but I've actually been able to get some use out of my tinnitus. If there's background noise that's preventing me from falling asleep (but nothing too loud), I can purposefully focus on the sound of my tinnitus. It becomes more prominent and effectively drowns out the sound that keeps me awake.
I've also tried to use the hum as reference point to get perfect pitch earing, that is been able to tell if a note is a C, a F or whatever. Unfortunatly my tinnitus seems to be composed of several frequencies and out of tune. I can't make any use of it for musical purposes (yet).
I have mild tinnitus and my self-experiments have been inconclusive - in some instances kneading my masseter and the other, minor, jaw muscles has seemed to give relief, but nothing obvious.
Incidentally, I also sometimes experience another form of "tinnitus" (not sure what to call it) that manifests itself as a swooshing sound when I move my eyeballs quickly. It's most noticeable if I'm tired or under the weather in some form. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced something similiar?
But if tinnitus comes during your lifetime you do have a reference point, and you will most likely notice.
I don't suffer the severe symptoms decribed in the article. I think that Hum must be doing something else to the bodys of those affected.
My tinnitus, after some weeks of adaptation, became part of normal life. I can sleep, concentrate and so on. I do miss the old silence sometimes. Good music is the new silence.