Having tinnitus for a long time without knowing it?

I find myself in a strange circumstance. I don't know if I got T recently or have had it many years.

At the beginning of this year I bought a HiFi audio system. It was an expensive setup, the cables alone cost $500 each. I mention this because I only noticed T when I started listening to music on a HiFi setup. On low quality audio gear you hear all types of static noises that would mask T. Since my audio setup was crystal clear it's almost like my T was brought out into daylight.

In retrospect I now can see instances where I think I've had T for a while but it always sounded similar to an environmental noise (humming computer, incandescent light bulbs, washer, etc).

I see many people with an exact date or month that their T "started". But I can't really pin my own T. If I hadn't bought this audio setup I don't think I'd of noticed this.

Is anyone else in a circumstance like me where they're not sure if they've had T for a while or just got it recently?

 

Hi.

To my knowledge this is one known theory of why some people suddenly are bothered with T.
They have had it for years without ever noticing it, for one day to do so and it starts bugging them.

I would think that could be the case for some people, but not for all of us

I actually think this was the theory behind TRT to begin with, but I havent looked it up.

For me, I know it is rooted to my mental health as well, even though I got it from a bomb blast

 

I think I'm the same as you, in the sense I never noticed it. Looking back I've probably had it for a long time. Then prolonged loud noise exposure made it worse. Now I can't get rid of it.

 

I thought tinnitus was normal thing.
I remember when I'm at the cinema and it's full silence, I hear eeeeeeeeee, never knew that our ears could make noises.

 

Has it gotten louder for you @Mastov ? Perhaps you listened to the stereo too loudly. Be careful with them.

 

I know a person that has had T for a long time, and didn't even realize it. He never knew what the buzzing was, but it never bothered him.

 

I'm sort of in that boat. But it has definitely gotten louder, at a minimum, if in fact some ringing was already present. It's not that I'm only finally noticing it for some reason, not at this current volume at least. But if I did already "have it", it was so quiet and unintrusive that it never crossed the threshold of annoyance or even really being conscious of it.

 

In the 70's mine came on slowly or suddenly without me noticing.
Strangely, and coincidentally, I'm an audiophile, semi-pro recording engineer, and into many musical instruments. We tend to listen for, and hear everything, don't we?

 

I can remember two incidents where I heard a 'static' sound for about 10 minutes. I wondered what it was but I didn't stress about it at the time and it disappeared or 'went back under the threshold of awareness'. That was a few months before I woke up one morning with a hiss emanating from my left ear/head and I totally freaked out. My visit to my ENT made me feel even worse.