I have been dealing with it since I can remember. Like since kinder garden and I’m thinking it started before that. I never talked to anyone about it because I never understood where the ringing came from and assumed everyone had it for some reason. I used to get sick often so I noticed being sick would aggravate it. It really wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I decided to google “prolonged ringing” that I found out what tinnitus was. I wanted to ask anyone who is an expert in the subject if this could have been caused by meningitis. My mom had told me that when I was barely a few months old I got really sick, my vitals were all fucked up I was burning up and the doctor said I would have died or remained a vegetable if i got to the hospital later. He said I had meningitis. I’m in my 30’s now and the ringing has been really hard to ignore lately. I really don’t know what silence is because the quieter it is the more I hear the ringing.