[pickledcods]

It also heavily stresses relationships.

I have the equivalent of two jet engines in my ears, including the characteristic phase shifting. Managing it is basically mentally "locking it out", which has the side effect of becoming insensitive to real-world audio stimuli.

So when my SO talks to me when I'm off guard, I only realise that mid-sentence before I "unlock" my perception. The first few words are usually the essence which are lost, so I need to ask her to repeat the first few words.

But as a non-Tinnitus she does not understand, gets annoyed, and starts shouting the whole sentence exaggerated articulated which kinda hurts both my ears an feelings, gets me annoyed because I explained why hundreds of times. Basically ruining the the moment for both of us, especially in public.

Fighting over it isn't worth it, so now I'm more into nodding friendly and hope she doesn't notice that I didn't get what she said, which creates a whole new bunch of problems.

[Zircom]

Not to pretend I know anything about you or your partner and y'alls relationship, but her being a non-tinnitus sufferer and not having personally experienced it herself doesn't make her unable to "understand" the issue and accommodate you in the manner of your choosing.

Assuming that you've sat down with her and clearly communicated exactly how you want her to handle situations when your tinnitus makes it hard for you to understand her, if she's still choosing to completely ignore that in favor of shouting and being unreasonable to the point it turns into a fight, that just reflects poorly on her and her willingness to be even minorly sympathetic and accommodating to a loved one's currently incurable medical condition.

[astura]

Sounds like your gf is just a jerk, you don't need to have personal experience with tinnitus to "understand" it or be polite and make accommodations for it.

I have great hearing. My mother in law is very hard of hearing and it's the same way - unless you're actively engaging in a face to face conversation with her it doesn't 'click' that you're talking to her until mid sentence. It's so just not a big deal - I learned really early (like the first day I met her) that if I want to say something to her I just have to pause and make sure I have her attention first. I couldn't imagine acting like your girlfriend if I forgot to get her attention first.

[pickledcods]

The weird thing is when I'm mentally exhausted. The sound effects changes and clicks and plops are added.

The only moment I am truly free of tinnitus is losing the fight against falling asleep. Seconds before I slip into a dream state there is silence. Most notable when falling asleep in the passenger seat of a car on a long trip. It's like I'm actually experiencing parts of my brain shutting down.