[technothrasher]

> 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.

[grg0]

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

[technothrasher]

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.

[turnsout]

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

[rossant]

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

[davidivadavid]

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.