I don't subscribe to that notion at all. But I can tell you this much...
I have had mine for about 2 years without even knowing it by the name of tinnitus, up until it became more protruding, chronic and tonal. Up until then I had what you would call somatic tinnitus where I would hear a buzzing kind of sound when yawning, and also occasional ringing in my ears (or brain) that I think many people experience every now and then. Following an acoustic trauma I first got a humming, static noise that I didn't even think of as tinnitus because it didn't bother me at all, and then eventually that blissful humming turned into a tonal ringing or buzzing kind of sound. Only then did I realize that I got chronic tinnitus. I experienced other symptoms as well that lead up to that, which I interpret as some kind of apoptosis/degeneration and/or neural changes taking place.
Having tinnitus at a very young age is possible. But having it at birth seems like a very far-fetched idea to me. There would have to be something substantially wrong with your ears or auditory brain.