This is resonating with me. This particular nature, brought to our
attention here, is intriguing me, no end — all the richer for this awareness as it fits,
"
My brain still predicts [that] these frequencies should arrive, and because they do not arrive, the brain says 'well, better safe than sorry' in many cases, and therefore it will generate the sound itself, pulling that sound from memory based on what it expects to hear, and that is the tinnitus that we hear.
"
What is involved here is a very rewarding insight into the nature of our minds,
and our very nature. When one begins to go deaf, the brain can, and does, compensate, to the point where it is functioning on the memory of sound in order to hear. The eyes do the very same thing, once the peak has come and gone and the sense is fading. The brain is a survival tool like no other.
The evident worry is, that all that extra computing power, directed towards compensating for the failing senses, taxes the healthy mind which has to prioritize, compromising normal faculties for the sake of hearing and seeing — comprehending. And that, in turn, leads to a number of pathologies.
All this is taxing. We now know that dementia may be one of those pathologies, because studies have shown that a good, timely pair of hearing-aids ameliorates a number of age-related cognitive states like dementia. "Hearing loss can increase the risk of dementia in later life," according to Dementia Australia,
"
Research suggests that people with mild symptoms of hearing loss may be twice as likely to develop dementia as those with healthy hearing. People with severe hearing loss may be five times more likely to develop dementia … [
pdf]
"
Getting to the point, a lot of this ungodly trouble comes about because our minds can tend to run away with the problem. When we, in a sense, blow things out of proportion, these incredible brains we possess will automatically go into overdrive, seeking — survival instinct — to alleviate the stress we're under, focusing fiercely on the anomaly — and in-so-doing "
pulling that sound from memory."
Stress is
detrimental to survival. It's potentially an overcompensation, very likely in many cases — hysteria etc. playing a part — which
can be addressed, considering the evidence. And so, on these grounds, placebo, further complicating things, will very likely be playing a role — calming the racket, quelling the unquiet mind, in any number of ways. Thinking (feeling) works.
Being a sufferer, I have some of this, empirically, now as awareness. We've known for some time that our thinking plays a significant role. Being at peace with the ringing is, in some ways a mind trick —
POOF! It disappears, just like that. Very rewarding, if you can get your head around it.
The same principle applies where white noise is concerned. The mind's getting amongst it: white noise, once it's familiar to the auditory cortex, disappears because the mind has better, more important things to do and can dispense with it easily
These awarenesses, gained decades ago, gave me almost immediate relief. Since then, science has been continuing successfully on this tack. It's not easy, for a number of reasons, to stop focusing on the ringing. It is, however, eminently possible, at least in my case, and by no means am I alone. Protecting what remains of your hearing, addressing the din in the real world, is the other side of the coin. That too will aid you profoundly, in this same, sane sense.
— now, potentially, playing a part in the curative-cocktail shakeup. Paging Doctor Feelgood 
— and I believe I've made myself reasonably clear, in my way. I'm not here to argue. Do you see the link between white noise and the ringing? It requires some good sense and some leniency. 
