[kstenerud]

How do you know you have it? I've had a particular high pitched sound in my head that's apparent as soon as the ambient sound in the room goes down to a certain threshold. It's been that way for as long as I can remember, and I'd just assumed it was that way for everyone. Is that not the case? What should absence of sound in a room sound like to a normal observer?

[lutorm]

Any sound you hear in the absence of actual sound is by definition tinnitus, as far as I understand. Once would expect an absence of sound to sound like nothing, no?

[kstenerud]

I don't know. I've never heard anything different from what I hear now in the absence of sound, nor have I thought to question the normalcy of what I hear until now. Without a reference point, I cannot make a comparison.

[ogig]

Been strict you can't know for sure. Birth deaf people probably suffer strong tinnitus for their lifes without realizing. Oliver Sacks has nice essays extending on this.

But if tinnitus comes during your lifetime you do have a reference point, and you will most likely notice.

[sanoli]

well, a "high pitched sound in my head that's apparent as soon as the ambient sound in the room goes down" is pretty much THE informal definition of tinnitus. You may not have it, but I'd bet you do. P.S. I have it, from being young and dumb and into punk rock and having a walkman.