My tinnitus (persistent ringing in the ears) became noticeable to me in 2005 or so. Recently, it seems to me to have gotten yet louder. I can hear it when things get only vaguely calm or quiet.
In doing a bit of research, I’ve learned that mychronic dizziness may, in part, have led to the tinnitus. (My dizziness is caused by the orthostatic hypotension that I inherited from my mother’s side; I’ve been dealing with it since I was fourteen.) Also, apparently long-term severe stress can cause or worsen the malady.
How ironic: After years of mocking me for my dizziness, my husband now claims that he is the one with the hypotension (which started, no doubt, shortly after he starting having his period) and that he suffered years of stress resulting from spousal abuse (he likes to tell people that I beat him up regularly). And now I may go deaf because of it. It’s almost funny.