I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

I’ve played drums and loud music for a long time. When I pay close enough attention there’s this persistent, aggravating noise — which I sometimes call “silence”, and other times call “tinnitus”.

> which I sometimes call “silence”

I've had mild tinnitus as long as I can remember; my earliest memory of it must have been when I was about four years old. I suspect I've had it my entire life. When I was a child, I thought it was just something normal that everybody had. When I heard the Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Sound of Silence", I thought that was what they were talking about.

I have constant tinnitus and sometimes it just "stops" for a bit (like on the order of a minute or two). When it does, the lack of a background noise is just.. unnerving. It's like something is missing.

Are we talking about that thing you hear when in absolute silence in the dead of night? Is absolute silence even a thing?

I don't know what anybody else hears in absolute silence, but I hear a high pitched ringing. I can hear it any time I think about it. Like the other poster said though, my brain filters it out typically when other noise is around and I'm not paying attention to it.

Same. I guess that’s tinnitus, but I feel lucky that most of the time I seem to filter it out.

Having tinnitus for a couple decades at this point, I can tell you for a fact "absolute silence" is definitely a very clear memory for me. I would lie in my bed before sleep, and enjoying the experience of complete silence was almost part of my go-to-sleep routine. I'm quite surprised people in this thread seem to assume everyone always has some low-level hiss. I certainly didn't.

I realize just now I hear this as well. Always have. Always thought it was normal. Guess it isn't.