Has it caused you to be hard of hearing? The ringing I can live with (both ears). Half deaf, not so much.
My ‘ringing’ is in both ears, and varies in tone and loudness. It changes pitch all the time. Usually, there is 2 or three underlying tones, with a varied sign wave type of pitch.
I have tinnitus, predictably from a lifetime of loud headphone music and hundreds of live music shows. I have moderate across-the-board hearing loss, with a constant high-pitched ringing at a low volume - comparable to a sea of crickets in the forest at all times).
I can no longer listen to music in the car due to road noise drowning out the low tones, and tinnitus the high tones. I’m left with what only sounds like punctured speakers held under a pillow 
I’ve adapted to listening to language tapes, or just daydreaming the miles away.
I’m forcing myself to get back into music enjoyment by a combination of learning to play guitar, which I can hear quite well by itself, and selectively choosing music that is more adapted to what I can hear best.
For example, nuanced complex music (my old favorite) is pretty much ruined for me. Pink Floyd, Massive Attack, and such are mostly an unenjoyable shadow of what my memory knows should be there. I have found great enjoyment in re-discovering simpler music that I’d not explored like old blues (John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins), beat-based electronica with simpler production values, or single-instrument virtuosos (Leo Kottke, Tommy Emmanuel).
Have you been tested for hearing loss? In most cases, tinnitus is the reaction of the auditory cortex to the loss of hearing in the inner ear. You usually don’t have tinnitus without hearing loss.
I can’t cope with very noisy environments - clubs and the like. But other than that, I’ve not noticed any hearing loss. I’m obviously deaf on the the frequency of the tinnitus, of course.
I’ve had Tinnitus for almost as long as I can remember.
In other words, I really can’t remember ever not hearing a high pitched tone.
In my case I’m about 98% positive that excessive noise is the cause of my condition. It’s worse in my left ear, which I attribute to having a pistol fired close to that ear when I was about 12-13 years old.
I’ve also endured excessively loud noise throughout my life due to my trade. (I’m a commercial carpenter)
This thread, and in particular, Stringbean’s post has given me some hope that I may be able to alleviate the ringing to some degree. I will certainly give it a try and report back with the results (if any).
Like enipla, “I can deal with the ringing, and can mostly ignore it. It’s the hearing loss because the ringing literally blocks out some frequencies that really sucks.”
Yes I have been tested. The tinnitus is blocking my hearing. At least that what doctors have said.
How to explain it… It sort of like having a bad string quartet that is tuning up follow you were ever you go. No one but I can ‘hear’ it though.
I can still hear. But often have to use my other senses for the proper response. It’s all about context.
On an odd note, two years ago, I started playing bluegrass banjo. Now THAT I can hear. Or feel. (no, the banjo has nothing to do with my hearing loss).
Hey JB. Like you, I was exposed to excessive noise when growing up. Skeet shooting and target shooting. And for about 10 years I was in the construction trades. Framing.
What seemed to push me over the edge though, was a fall I had 7 years ago. I fell right on my chin. Didn’t get knocked out (I don’t think) but I did see stars. I remember thinking that this is just like it’s depicted in cartoons. Huh… stars…
Your mentioning that, reminded me of a (sort of) similar experience (slammed chin first into the bottom by a wave). :eek:
I can’t say that I noticed a marked increase in the severity of my Tinnitus, at the time though. My symptoms have (slowly) become progressively worse, over time. 
Just think of it as power lines operating nearby wherever you happen to be.
I occasionally get a repetitive thumpthumpthump in my left ear. I think this is classified as pulsatile tinnitus? It’s not the high-pitched ring that seems more common. For this, I’ve found that turning to sleep on that side helps. Or stuffing something in my outer ear to muffle things, like an earbud or cotton ball. If it’s just a ringing sound, white noise or sleeping with the TV on low might help.
I had a tremendous improvement when I stopped drinking diet coke’s/pepsi’s. The reason that I stopped drinking diet sodas was that I got tired of carrying them to my apartment (very heavy), but it can help to stop drinking diet sodas, in all health areas of your life.