I got mine right before COVID happened, so it wasn't that disease that caused it. Its strange because I don't feel like I abused my ears relative to my peers:

I got mine right before COVID happened, so it wasn't that disease that caused it. Its strange because I don't feel like I abused my ears relative to my peers: didn't use alcohol until I was in my twenties, hardly ever went to loud music shows. I did use my ipod growing up a lot as well but I was usually pretty careful about my ears and used lower volumes. More than likely for me I think it was a combination of possibly motorcycle riding (despite wearing hearing protection I'd still sometimes come away from a ride with some ringing in my ears), and one incidence at a shooting range where my earmuffs weren't quite on, and - possibly most of all - I'm pretty sure my snoring contributed to it becoming permanent.