Yes, I have heard the passing of a love one especially the mother can trigger tinnitus. The lady janitor in our office whose husband also has T told me about how her habituated T started, right after suffering the loss of her mom. Her T bothered her to the point that she had to see her doctor and was told 'try to live with it'. It upset her but It was years ago though and she has habituated. The moment I talked to her about T, she said she could hear her T when we talked about the subject of T. Go figure.