2 ms·

I just think of that ringing as the sound of silence.

retrac 3y ago
One interpretation is that nearly every person has some degree of tinnitus, but many are almost completely unaware of it - it's just perceived as silence under most circumstances. I hit my head once, and lost all hearing on one side; some of it returned after a week or so. When it did, I was extremely aware of my pulse thumping through my head, bones crunching in my neck, as well as minor fluid whooshing sounds when I moved. Quite disorienting! We are always hearing that, but it is normally almost completely filtered out, imperceptible because it's always present. It is my experience that absolute quiet is sometimes subjectively "louder" than very slight white noise, which can be perceived as true quiet. I also find I notice my tinnitus less under such conditions. This is analogous, in a rather deep way I suspect, to how most people perceive a perfectly dark visual field as grey noise [1], or amorphous slightly coloured blobs, or similar, but not a true black. A true, dark black can only be perceived in contrast to a lighter colour. Same with silence, perhaps. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau
- cableshaft 3y ago
  I'm not entirely sure I didn't have tinnitus before, just that it was usually so quiet I didn't notice (I did have brief moments where I had the same ringing I had as I do now, it just only lasted like 20 seconds and then I couldn't hear it again). And I think I remember a few times in the past that I noticed a very, very mild ringing when I was concentrating hard trying to hear it, but maybe that's a false memory I'm inserting after the fact that I know I've got it now? I don't know. But in mid 2019 I started noticing that it was loud enough and persistent enough I couldn't ignore it easily anymore (I can for periods of time, but I have to actively distract myself now, whereas before I didn't need to).

One interpretation is that nearly every person has some degree of tinnitus, but many are almost completely unaware of it - it's just perceived as silence under most circumstances. I hit my head once, and lost all hearing on one side; some of it returned after a week or so. When it did, I was extremely aware of my pulse thumping through my head, bones crunching in my neck, as well as minor fluid whooshing sounds when I moved. Quite disorienting! We are always hearing that, but it is normally almost completely filtered out, imperceptible because it's always present. It is my experience that absolute quiet is sometimes subjectively "louder" than very slight white noise, which can be perceived as true quiet. I also find I notice my tinnitus less under such conditions. This is analogous, in a rather deep way I suspect, to how most people perceive a perfectly dark visual field as grey noise [1], or amorphous slightly coloured blobs, or similar, but not a true black. A true, dark black can only be perceived in contrast to a lighter colour. Same with silence, perhaps. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau

cableshaft 3y ago
I'm not entirely sure I didn't have tinnitus before, just that it was usually so quiet I didn't notice (I did have brief moments where I had the same ringing I had as I do now, it just only lasted like 20 seconds and then I couldn't hear it again). And I think I remember a few times in the past that I noticed a very, very mild ringing when I was concentrating hard trying to hear it, but maybe that's a false memory I'm inserting after the fact that I know I've got it now? I don't know. But in mid 2019 I started noticing that it was loud enough and persistent enough I couldn't ignore it easily anymore (I can for periods of time, but I have to actively distract myself now, whereas before I didn't need to).