I recon I developed tinnitus in my teenage years. When there is constant ringing in your ears you don’t notice it. The high-pitched sound doesn’t change in tone or volume. It’s just always there. I am not aware that it has been a significant detriment to me.
When I am in a bar or a places where there is a lot of echo off the wall, my hearing ‘concentration’ can become overwhelmed. I cannot follow a single conversation. I find myself speaking loudly just to hear myself talk. This is why I am most comfortable communicating in quiet outdoor settings.
I have about 25% hearing loss in my left ear. I know exactly when it happened. There was a rock band playing during my freshman college year at the University of Wisconsin – Stout campus. I got to the performance late and had to stand next to one of the main speakers. Since then, the audio I hear in my left ear is more muffled than what I hear in my right.
Speaking of hearing – one Christmas I bought my parents a widget that you attach to your key ring. Its companion widget is one you keep with you or stored some place you remember. When you cannot find your keys, you press the button on the widget and it causes a high-pitched sound on the widget attached to the key ring. After my parents opened my gift, I demonstrated how it worked. I could hear the tone, but neither my mom or dad could! It didn’t occur to me that the tone was too high for older people to hear. As you grow older, you lose hearing in the upper audio register.