have had it  since  gradeschool,   and  it really got bad  when a car  tire blew up  a foot away from my right ear,  ripping a nice hole in that eardrum.
  High stress and  increased BP makes it  'louder'. 

I cannot  sleep  without some sort of background noise.   I have learned to mostly  ignore it the rest of the time.  I guess it's with me until I die.