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When I was a kid, I had no awareness of T until I went into a very quiet room in the basement. Then I'd detect a generalized white noise type of sound. It was very soft, but noticeable only in complete silence. After changing activities, it was no longer detectible. There are all kinds of electrical and vascular activities in the head. It would seem strange that all of that activity wouldn't cause a bit of noise in a completely quiet room. Some people would notice it and others might not, since it's soft and disappears once you get into some ambient noise.

My husband wasn't aware of anything until I started talking nonstop about my T. Now he says he's aware of sound in his head, and he's never had T before...he just is aware of head noise now that was probably there all along? Could be. Does he now have tinnitus? I wouldn't think so since he has to focus his attention to hear that little bit of noise in his head.

I believe that the standard definition of tinnitus is too broad and vague.

The classic definition of Tinnitus: "perception of noise or sounds in the head or ears in the absence of an actual stimulus" doesn't seem to fit a full blown case of tinnitus.

Plus nothing in the physical world is caused without a stimulus of some sort. It's just that no one has discovered what that stimulus is yet in the case of tinnitus.

Tinnitus might be better defined as perception of a persistant sound of unknown origin, that is loud enough to cause physical or psychological distress.

That seems to better differentiate between any sound that might "normally" occur as opposed to one that is loud enough to actually cause distress or a change in one's lifestyle.

Susan