Can Anxiety Cause Tinnitus?

Hello everyone,
I am suffering from tinnitus since January this year, so that makes it almost 7 months now. What I hear is this constant noise like a dead TV channel in both ears and ringing in my left ear. Sometimes, I hear the pulse too, and at times in my right ear I hear a noise as a siren about a few seconds, where other noises go away but are back within a few seconds when the siren noise is over.

I was suffering from panic attacks, and three weeks after I had severe anxiety along with T. It came after one night that I couldn't sleep. And after that night I had many symptoms like vertigo, headaches, palpitations, trembling, sweating, phobias etc. In short, every possible symptom. Back then tinnitus was one of many symptoms. So I was first stresses and panicked, then came severe anxiety with T. I went to a therapist and as time passed I was getting better.

Now, after 7 and a half months, I am at a point where 90% of my anxiety has passed, and I get symptoms from time to time. I still have a dizziness at times.

My only distress now comes from my tinnitus. It is getting me very, very depressed, and unwilling for anything.

Has anyone experienced this before? Did anyone have similar problems? Has tinnitus came from my anxiety?

Thank you all for reading me
Best regards to everyone
Irene

 

You hear a pulse? Does it sound like blood-flow or whooshing? Can you hear your heartbeat?

 

Yes it's like a blood-flow with heartbeat, but it occurs very rarely. Compared to the other noise it's nothing

 

I think anxiety can spike or make the T seem louder but I'm not sure about it causing the T. Personally for me, I think T came to me when I was at a happy point of my life. After listening to that sound for 2 weeks straight, I started freaking out and panicking.

Fastforward 7-8 months, most of my anxiety is much improved and I don't get panic attacks anymore and my T seems much less and very manageable. I'm not sure exactly if the T went down causing my anxiety to get better or if the anxiety got better then my T went down. The reason I don't know is because one of the first things I was told about my T is to ignore it. Don't measure it, don't actively try to think about it. Distract yourself as much as you can and try to get back to your normal routines. I did all that along with some healthy changes (better diet and more frequent exercising). There are some days where I experience weird spikes but they're all temporary. I try not to freak out so much about it and instead try to see things as glass half full because I could have been born deaf like my sister but I didn't. I'm just hard-of-hearing and I can function well in society and I have a great family and great friends so there's always something to look forward to.

Maybe your T will pass. Maybe it won't but you will learn to live with it. It's hard to tell because not much is known about T and how it develops or how to eliminate it. For now it seems that prevention is the best course of action to do.

 

Thanks a lot, so far now I am still trying to learn live with it. But it is still a great issue to me. I try to be positive, but I cannot. It has brought me to really dark places. I've been given the same advises, but it's still pretty much frustrating.
Thanks again and I hope it'll all get better soon.

 

Anxiety doesn't actually make your T louder it just makes it more noticeable, there's a big difference. Have you ever cut yourself and not noticed until you see the blood and as soon as you do it's starts hurting? It's the same principle.

The Tinnitus/pain was always there but it's the paying attention to it which makes it "real".

The latest conjectures in the field of consciousness involve an idea called "global workspace theory".

Basically your conscious mind is looking down on a huge table filled with different information from your unconscious mind. Tinnitus is just one of the things on the table along with all the other sensory inputs from your body and brain. Your conscious mind is like a giant camera with a powerful flashlight swinging hither and yon above it illuminating different items on the table. Whatever it's looking at is what you're paying attention to, what you're paying attention to is what it's looking at.

The problem is that when emotion is added to these items they grow bigger and become more noticeable and easier for the conscious (camera/flashlight) to come across: it vies for your conscious mind's attention. [ emotions are your brain's way of making you act upon something it thinks will protect your genes

Starve your T of all emotion and it withers to a point, it's still there if you look for it but so is the feeling in your left foot as you read these words.

 

I think it's more likely that anxiety and tinnitus result from a common pathway, rather than that one causes the other.

GABA is the neurotransmitter which inhibits excess neuronal activity; some kind of problem in GABA function can cause anxiety, or tinnitus, or both.

 

@Irene Bloom
Hi Irene,
Yes, anxiety can cause T. I had a period of vertigo, dizziness, exhaustion, migraines and some others. Since I never had that before in my life, I got anxiety that I have a major health issue like a brain tumor. I got completely out of control and this stress and anxiety switched on T in my head.
So yes, anxiety can cause T.

 

don't you think it's also possible that whatever caused the vertigo, migraines and dizziness also caused the tinnitus? Tinnitus, vertigo and dizziness all involve the inner ear.

 

Thank you all guys,

@Silvine I really appreciate your approach. Before I got anxiety I never had tinnitus so now I cannot say if it makes it louder or not. So, in some say we can say this is not actual tinnitus, just a symptom of anxiety? The approach of not giving emotion to symptoms has worked for everything else, but not for tinnitus, I just can't stop thinking about it, it's all I'm thinking of nowadays, 24/7. How can I make it less noticeable when it's all I'm thinking of? If it's anxiety caused does it make it more curable? Any of the it all ends up to not paying attention of it so I guess it makes it the same if anxiety caused or not, it's there..

@linearb what do you suggest I should do?

@Martin69 your tinnitus is also from anxiety? Do you know someone cured from this way related tinnitus? Does make it make it more curable when it's anxiety caused?

Kindest regards to all

 

I do not beleive anxiety causes tinnitus. Seems more the other way around.

The awareness of the phantom sound may cause distress at first, which is normal since sounds of unknown origins should make us feel alert, on edge, ready to flee/fight from potential danger. This is the first and most important job of the auditory system. Alert you from danger. Keep you alive from threats you can't visually identify. It even keeps doing that in your sleep.

So in a sense it is normal to feel stressed about the tinnitus sound just like it would be for any other unpleasant external sound. This is a natural response. However, anxiety may continue to ramp up when the T perception doesn't seem to be going anywhere especially after visiting healthcare professionals who tell you there's nothing that can do.

 

I dont think anxiety causes tinnitus, but it does make it very noticeable or caues you to decompensate

I had tinnitus for many years as a teenage probably, but being generally happy and busy throughout it never really bothered me at all.

however this year i started developing anxiety, and i was super tuned/ hyperaware of my body, and i think this what made the T unbearable, but once again using some CBT techniques i have largely tamed it, but like now spending time on this forum its definetly spiking.

 

anxiety in hindsight played a big part in the development of my tinnitus, I was very stressed about heath issues when I had a single noise exposure. I read somewhere that someones opinion was that stress affects serotonin levels. that in turn affects the release of glutamate a neurotransmitter. producing a "glutamate storm" which at high levels can be ototoxic. This my half baked theory and fits the facts for me and a few other people I know who have developed tinnitus "young" I Believe the combination of high anxiety and noise made me "hear" my tinnitus.

I had always hoped that if the stress was taken away then the tinnitus will subside but only time will tell.

Some people believe that everyone has tinnitus, Its just that when they do some damage to their hearing they habituate to it so quickly they don't notice, or their ears ring for a few days. Lots of people are deaf and don't have tinnitus through the natural loop of habituation. If you are highly stressed your senses are heightened, especially your hearing and your brain latches on to a faint sound and you focus on it.

This is only my opinion and everyone with tinnitus develops their own theories, Rest assured that when you stop focusing on it the noise it will fade into the background through habituation. It does take time and that is the only variable that you can directly control,

 

I basically agree with @linearb, as I often do: I believe that there are links between anxiety and tinnitus, although exactly what they are and how they work remain unknown. In my case, the tinnitus came first, then the panic and anxiety.

The reality, @Irene Bloom, is that you may never know exactly what caused your tinnitus -- although perhaps anxiety did play a role. But it appears that today your anxiety is under control. So perhaps you can concentrate on feeling better now versus determining your T's cause. You mentioned you have seen a therapist before. What does he/she say about your feelings of depression? Anxiety and depression often go hand and hand. I am not a fan of meds, but maybe you could consider taking an anti-depressant short term and under a doctor's care?

Hugs for you,
LadyDi

 

Irene, I took a poll, only 7 people took part but it is interesting that 5 out of the 7 had a traumatic experience before T. here is the poll:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/ptsd-before-tinnitus.7999/

 

@Jon73
@LadyDi Yes I agree too, there is a connection. But I just wanted to know has anyone had the same experience as mine.
I haven't seen my therapist in three months now, and back then the focus was more on the anxiety symtoms, not the depression. What my therapist told me is that the tinnitus was caused by my anxiety. As we know anxiety is a state where where stress is released through body symptoms, and you become aware of your body state. And tinnitus was caused by that state.
From what i've read, I seem to have a somatic tinnitus, I can change the volume by head movements, so that I think makes it more relate to anxiety I think.. But so far now, it's still there though some of the symptoms have passed.
Anyway, I have been taking bromzepam for a few months, and it helped me with the panic attacks and anxiety. Now I take it once in two days.
So, what I wanted to know is has anyone had the experience of first having anxiety then tinnitus, does it make a difference, but I guess the cases are rare..
And I really want to focus on getting better, and I might get better for a while(not thinking about my T), but the it strikes me, it's there and I constantly stard listening to it and thinking about it.
I've just turned 23, and I know this doesn't choose age and time, but I've been asking myself these questions. What's my life gonna be from now on? This cannot be the way I should live? I know I should accept it, but so far, in 7 months, there is no sign of habituation..
Hope everything will be fine soon.

 

Personally my tinnitus gets louder during stressful situations.

 

As someone who has had low-grade Tinnitus for decades (ignored, largely) only to have it spike/evolve in the past few weeks after a health scare, I can personally attest that anxiety has, for me, at least, a direct connection to Tinnitus. A few weeks ago I found myself freaking out about mercury in my teeth (amalgam), and my Tinnnitus spiked to new and unfortunate levels. I also spiraled into a "fight or flight" negative feedback loop. As someone who has gone through this before (extreme anxiety related to health obsession; panic attacks), I recognized the symptoms: tingling, sleeplessness, dizziness, hypervigilence. It's basically an ancient mechanism that our modern brains struggle with (animals? not so much). The more stressed I got, the worse my Tinnitus became. The negative feedback loop looks something like this:

Negative Feedback Loop


It is worth noting that I had to come upon this conclusion through extensive research (few doctors understand the ancient brain/modern brain connection, and fewer still think it should be addressed in treatment). Although, thankfully, this is starting to change. More of my views on this can be found at my labor of love/ad-free blog, www.ancientbrain.net. There are resources there for calming (guided meditations) and learning more about what's happening in your head, as well as how you can build resilience (a fancy phrase for working out your pre-frontal cortex to help govern the ancient brain a bit more easily).

Other Resources
WORTH A LISTEN: RADIOLAB SHOW: EARS DON'T LIE
I don't know if you're familiar with Radiolab, but an few years ago, they did an excellent show about hearing, and one of the fascinating things they discussed was the evolution of hearing and how it was the earliest survival mechanism. Is it possible that Fight or Flight/amygdala responses are especially "attuned" to audio signals, and therefore, it contribute to anxiety/panic? It is possible that becuase the auditory cortex is connected so closely to the amygdala (the ancient fight or flight part of the brain) Tinnitus could very well be triggering the fear / survival reflex and vice versa? Worth considering. Anyway, here's the show--well worth a listen: Ears Don't Lie

Synopsis: "Hearing is our fastest sense. (Who knew?!) Horowitz says that it takes our brain at least one-quarter of a second to process visual recognition. But sound? You can recognize a sound in 0.05 seconds. And our brain is so adept at hearing the differences between sounds, we can sense changes of sound that occur in "less than a millionth of a second," according to Horowitz's book. Why this need for auditory speed? It's our evolutionarily-shaped emergency response system. It let our ancestors hear a twig snap in the woods at night, when all was supposed to be quiet and they couldn't see. Yet, for most of us, we're wired to tune out non-essential sound, so the world doesn't feel like a sensory overload."

WORTH A READ: DR. BRUCE HUBBARD
Dr. Bruce Hubbard is well-known contributor to this forum. He's also a CBT expert who suffers from T and H. He undestands well the link between the fight or flight response and Tinnitus as outlined in the ATA Winter newsletter here: Winter 2014 Tinnitus Today.

Synopsis: "What Causes Tinnitus Distress? Thank your brain, for it errs on the side of keeping you safe. Your brain is constantly on the alert for potential danger. Any unexpected sensory stimulus— a movement in your peripheral vision, a sudden noise, the feeling of something crawling up your leg—can trigger your brain to react against a possible threat. This reaction is what scientists call hypervigilance. Not surprisingly, your brain judges tinnitus—a loud, uncontrollable noise—as a threat to your wellbeing, and it puts your body on alert. Tinnitus distress is your brain sounding the alarm about a perceived possible danger."

 

Hi Irene,

My T started same as yours. I had two panic attacks one on 28th May 15 and 1st June 15, I first noticed my tinnitus on 16th June when I was sitting in a silent room. Since then it has been there continuously with increased intensity . Sometimes I observe pitch becomes very sharp and hissing noise disappears for a moment and then come back to same intensity. One of my friend who recovered from tinnitus in 4 months is helping me getting to the success. He also had tinnitus after panic attacks. On his advise I did a 5 day meditation and yoga course to handle anxiety and depression and its related symptoms.
I strongly believe T is a disorder of nervous symptom and root cause is underlying anxiety, stress or fear. For some elderly people it may be due to depression or week hearing nerve but for those who are younger adults and having no hearing loss it is definitely is due to anxiety. I consulted an ENT specialist who clearly told me that if you pass pure tone audiometry test ( which I did) then you must see to psychiatrists or any neurosurgeon expert in neuropsychiatries. I have consulted one such expert who is giving me treatment and he is confident that my T is curable as cause is known ( anxiety) . If you treat anxiety T will subside automatically however it is matter of time to find right antidepressant and proper CBT to achieve the results. He has successfully treated similar case in past.

Raghav

 

Dear Irene, I'm glad to hear your getting your anxiety under control. Anxiety, especially if it's severe can cause all sorts of negative manifestations in one's body. Another problem is that the T causes anxiety in return. It's a vicious circle/cycle. It does get a person depressed. Please try to hang in there and stay as busy as you can. Easier said than done, I know. Trust me, I do know. Also stay connected to this forum for support, it is a big help. God Bless..... Rich

 

Hi Greg,

Your explanation is excellent. In my case, my body went into full alarm state after a stressful period for years.
This stressful period ended with health issues like vertigo, migraines and other things. This caused high anxiety in me which finally triggered T. I never ever had any issues with my ears before, even no fleeting T. So T started like crazy like an alarm in me. Within a second, I was on high alert, full of anxiety and thought this is the end of my life.

Recently I found a similar explanation as the one you gave and this perfectly fits what happened to me. My body was flooded with hormones, glutamate and cortisol:

Stress response:
Heighten the senses—pupils dilate; ears, touch, taste, and smell become super sensitive.
Put the complete nervous system on high alert—heightened levels of anxiety, fear, and apprehension are experienced in order to keep us on high alert…just in case.

Being fearful causes the body to produce the stress response, which secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream.
The overstimulation of the stress response can cause the body to exhibit sensations and symptoms of stress hormone overstimulation.

I also found a German website where someone wrote: T is an alarm system that functions quite well, but unfortunately too long (I would say even forever).

The MASTER question is:
How to bring the brain/body out of this hyperstimulated mode and a stop of T?

Can only a drug like AUT00063 or SF0034 do that?
Or can I reach this without drugs?

 

Hi Martin,

First, never give me kudos, because I will almost inevitably inundate you with massive amounts of data!

Seriously, being caught in the fight or flight negative feedback loop is, without question, one of the scariest experiences around. And it's intended to be--the ancient (not terribly nuanced) brain has nothing less than our survival as its only goal. What the ancient brain never figured on, however, was the development of the "newer" or "neo" cortext--the outer layer (and most recently evolved) parts of our brain, meant mainly to govern our ancient responses and manage our "inner animals" through smart executive decision making. Great for complicated comparisons, but... the sad reality is, however, no matter how smart we are; no matter how powerful our PFCs the ancient brain, especially the amygdala, is stronger. It's older, if not wiser, and it's buried very deep in the brain, relative to the modern brain--it's often called the "lizard brain" because it has one job and one job only: save the individual against all attacks, real or perceived. It's that last bit that gets us in trouble.

A good analogy might be this: you walk into a room, and see a dead body. What happens? Your modern brain doesn't say "Look, a dead body! Run away!" In fact, your modern brain is completely bypassed by your ancient brain, which takes over the crime scene immediately. In fact, those signals (visual, say) of the body, bypass your higher-functioning brain and get routed at incredible speed to the amygdala which just as quickly directs your vagus nerve (your body's "second brain") to prepare you for this: you feel sick, tingly, dizzy, maybe a sudden need to vomit or defacate--a whole host of symptoms ready to "save" you by fighting or fleeing (or, in some cases, by shutting down entirely--see curling up in a ball and rocking back and forth. All the work of the ancient brain, while your more modern brain sits idly by, thumbs in pockets. Now, in animals, this scenario is handled no problem--a gazelle gets away, and it decides where it's having lunch. Cortisol? Oh, easily sorted out. Adrenalin? Pshah. But humans? When humans are faced with fight or flight, we stay with it. (This is also PTSD for veterans, btw.) Our modern brains mull over what's happened/happening, and try to figure it out. If they can't, that's when things really get weird.

I've been there, as have, I'm guessing, most of the people on this board. The only difference is that I got there through extreme anxiety having nothing to do with Tinnitus. Once I knew what my brain was trying to do (stupid brain!) it calmed me a bit (along with some other things). It's no accident that T triggers such a freakishly fearful response by its sufferers--it's part and parcel of our survival mechanism. And it's why the explanation of what's happening in your head is so important to Jastreboff:

emphasis added

This and more are available at Dr. Jastreboff's excellent (but very dated) web site: http://www.tinnitus-pjj.com. He explains the connection between Tinnitus and our ancient fight or flight response quite well (if somewhat turgidly). I've been studying the ancient brain for years, but have only been researching the fight or flight response and T connection for a few weeks. What's clear to me is that the two are quite closely intertwined: the ear was one of the earlier survival mechanisms, and since the Limbic system (home of the ancient part of the brain) harbors our emotional response to the signals being sent from our auditory cortex, it's a bit of cruel feedback loop. That's why, I think, Jastreboff's RTR methodology works so hard to re-program our response to the sound. The trick--and really, we are trying to trick the brain here--is to convert these signals into sounds that are as harmless as a refrigerator motor kicking on, or a car door closing. But to your questions, which, in all honesty, I have few answers, but:

>>How to bring the brain/body out of this hyperstimulated mode and a stop of T?

The first goal is to stabilize youself so that you can stop the fight or flight negative feedback loop (see: http://www.ancientbrain.net/home/science-behind-stress-anxiety-ancient-brain)

For me, it took ER visits, seeing two neurologists, and several other "doctors." Not a one of them ever explained what I had, not really, just the generic "high anxiety." Ultimately, I determined that had somatic disorder resulting from this extreme anxiety (the symptoms you described, plus, you know, the feeling of being on fire, stuff like that). When I found out that it was all just my ancient brain trying to protect me, that little, but critical bit of info was a life saver. So was Klonopin. That stopped it; it literally slows down the brain. That and Escitalopram--together, they stabilized patient me and helped disrupt the negative feedback loop. Well, those and an incredibly understanding wife. I hate these drugs, but they work, and if you're in a fight/flight negative feedback loop, I wouldn't hestiate to recommend them. I did wean myself off of both, btw, over a period of a year (but that's when my T really kicked in, so who knows? I cannot draw a correlation there, because there are so many other potential factors, and the Clonazepam had been out of my system for at least two full months.)

Anyway, the second half of your question is more complicated--because Fight or Flight may not be the only things causing T. And therein lies the rub: it's a varied, many-headed beast from what I've learned, and while yours might be the result of fight or flight, it's probably more complicated than that.

>>Can only a drug like AUT00063 or SF0034 do that?
I can't answer this. I doubt anyone can at this point. I've read the data and from what I can tell, they're on the right track, but we can--and should, in my opinion--do everything we can to manipulate our plastic brains to the extent possible.

>>Or can I reach this without drugs?
That's certainly what TRT is supposed to do--and CBT, as well. What's known is this: the brain is "plastic." That is, it rebuilds neural networks constantly, throughout your life. It can even rebuild split sections of your brain after stroke (check out this amazing TED talk about a neurologist on what happened after she had a stroke: ).

One thing is certain: meditation and mindfulness practice are proven--scientifically--to build up resilience in your brain. That's the neuroplasticity that can help keep your ancient brain impulses in check. But it ain't easy, and it takes time. One Harvard neurologist has found that parts of your brain are built up (the good parts!) with meditation:

Check out Sara Lazar's work here (another TED talk).


and here: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/

Other people to check out: Richie Richardson at the University of Wisconsin; Dr. Bruce Hubbard, CBT expert and Tinnitus sufferer (he understands fight/flight very very well); and Dr. Gans, on this site, who has modified MBSR to meet Tinnitus sufferers' needs. Emotions play a HUGE role in suffering from Tinnitus. Understanding that is a good first step. I hope this helps!! (Sorry for the lengthy verbiage.)

 

My reply is not scientific. I got T in 2012 when pretty happy and content. I had H too. I habituated for the most part and never went to anything very noisy without ear protection. Fast forward to this year, surgery (first scare) then medication reaction (second scare) this brought shocking anxiety, then onset menopause , hence hormone rushes. From April T spiked as it never has before, up down, up down, I am still anxious and depressed due to a worse T than I had and of course hormones. I definately blame the anxiety for this present relapse.

 

In my experience wen you freak out its getting worse yes. and later wenn you relax its not going back so better dont.

 

While there's no clear proof yet, it's been proven that people who meditate build up resiliance against anxiety (the ancient part of the brain the controls the Tinnitus response). One ofthe reasons is that it calms the brain down (remember, T is driven by overly excited neurons). Meditation helps calm down the brain. One of my favorite guided meditation podcasts (with music) is from the talented husband and wife team at Meditation Oasis. They have helped me through some very rough times. Just a friendly reminder...

 

Bear in mind; when the fight or flight emotional response is hitting your pre-frontal cortex at the same time it's also receiving feedback from your body on your physiological state (heart rate, respiration, cortisol levels, adrenaline levels). If your physiological state isn't in keeping with the emotional one then the emotional state of arousal will drop to achieve the correct balance.

Meditation artificially drops your physiological stress mechanism and therefore "cheats" the system. If you didn't care about your tinnitus at all then you wouldn't hear it at all.

 

Hi
I am near to normal again after 3 months of struggle with T. My T is gone I hear it only when I close my both ears. I am back to my rhythm at work and feeling much better now. My T Started in June 2015 after panic attacks. I am very thankful to my friend who guided me for self help approach and my doctor who is treating me who was confident right from beginning that my condition is a very much curable though I never believed him after reading stuff on internet.
I observed changes in my T suddenly in the beginning of the 3 rd month. Today I have completed 3rd month and I am sitting in a silent room while writing this post without getting disturbed by any noise in my head or ears either.
The worst part of my journey was the internet which was very discouraging. Dr. Google almost convinced me that this condition is not curable however thanks to my doctor ( an old chap 40 yrs of experience who hardly read internet research) was very positive about the cure. I used to trouble him while asking him some silly question that T is not curable and nothing can be done about it except manage or habituate. But he was absolutely right that this is a common symptoms and curable. Who do not believe in cure and are convinced that they have to live with it they eventually habituated it so either way its treatable and if you are positive and believe in success you will completely go away with this situation. But Dr. Google and some of the idiot doctors ( who treat after reading cures on internet) usually tell people that it is not curable and you have to learn how to live with it. That is absolutely pathetic. What is very important in your battle with T
1) Right prescription by an experienced doctors ( mind there are many idiots around)
2) Do not believe Internet research and theories , everyone is unique so their body response
3) Most important is self help approach ( Yoga, meditation, and sudarshan kriya) , real healers.
4) Believe in your body that it can cure any disease if sufficient time is given to it.

I believe that my relief is permanent and request every body "TO STOP TELLING PEOPLE THAT " T" IS NOT CURABLE".
Reghav

 

I definitely believe T can be caused by anxiety. The first time I ever heard T in my life was while recovering from the worst panic attack of my life. What mix of mental "amping up" and physical, chemical changes that cortisol, glutamate etc cause, I do not know. But I will never say it is not curable.

 

"anxiety" is a general term, but it seems like it's usually related to a very mechanical/chemical interaction: an increased presence of stress hormones in your body. These hormones serve an evolutionary purpose: when we are in danger, our senses become more acute, to allow us to be more aware of our environment.

This mechanism causes problems with tinnitus, because it makes us more aware of our tinnitus. This creates the "feedback loop" people have mentioned here, where anxiety -> more attention paid to tinnitus -> increased volume of tinnitus -> more anxiety.

On some level, tinnitus sounds are "normal" sounds. Research has shown that just about everyone will eventually become aware of high pitched sounds if they are kept in perfect silence for a period of time. In tinnitus, these normal background sounds become stronger than they are in people without auditory system damage.

It's also worth noting that there are numerous anecdotes of people "getting" tinnitus during intense meditation practice. So, this stuff is always there, bouncing around the nervous system, and it only becomes a problem when we become consciously aware of it, have an aversive reaction, and then the brain gets better and better at hearing the sound because we feel it is a threat to us. The mind is really, really bad at ignoring things which we consider to be threats, because of a hundred million years of evolving to survive in hostile environments.