Lavie... I was thinking the other night when I was still awake at 4am and noticing the peace of the silence outside... why doesn't the ringing in my ears affect me in those quiet times while it remains troublesome when I try to sleep.

It struck me that while the ringing can at times be more then annoying mostly it remains behind the scenes. It jumps onto the stage when it hits a high note out of the blue or when one ear suddenly pops and makes an echoe sounds. Those sudden sounds always gets a rise out of me, sometimes to the point of screaming for it to stop. Other then those surprise bolts out of nowhere that might last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes the ringing is always there. Since it has been there pretty much forever and it is more background noise then anything I guess for the most part I have learned to live with it. I don't know what silence sounds like.

What is most disturbing for me is the hypersensitivity to environmental sounds which according to what I learned the other night is a component of tinnisus (forgot how to spell it already). More then the constant ringing in the background is the anxiety I think may be magnified because of the hypersensitivity. Chick and egg thing sun mentioned. Perhaps it is some kind of overload because of the ringing always being there. I will have to ponder it some more.

Did you notice on the website the article about treatment options? I only scanned it but I remember something about sound therapy. Something worn in the ear to train the brain to process sounds 'normally'. It also mention CBT which I thought odd actually. They say there is no cure but that with therapy it can be managed. I wonder if there are suggestions there that could help you get some relief. It is one thing to cope with the same constant background noice but in your case the music changes and that has to be extremely more difficult to cope with. I hope you are able to get some relief very soon.