Sometime when it's being annoying,try the finger drumming technique and see if it goes away. The first time I did it, the silence was unnerving. If it gets quiet, it probably is tinnitus (but still get it checked out).

Brains filter out all kids of constant things when focused on something else, like how minor pain can be ignored for periods of time when distracted.

If you only seem to have tinnitus when you actively think about it, possibly due to someone else talking about theirs, then it could be your imagination.

If you notice it occasionally, like when the room is quiet and you are not actively thinking about having tinnitus , then it is tinnitus. There is an extremely wide spectrum of how quiet/loud it is, whether it happens all the time or only sometimes, and whether it is consistently the same or varies. I have it but only notice it occasionally and mostly when I have some ear pressure. Mine sounds like a mosquito or a failing old tube TV when it is noticeable.

Your description of it sticking around once you notice makes it sound like you do have tinnitus, but a mild case.

Sounds like you are just focusing on it. If it becomes worse, you should go to an Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) specialist and get a hearing test.

Tinnitus is frequently a symptom of hearing loss.

The earlier you detect it and mitigate it, the better the outcomes.

*nocebo

I feel your pain. I was in bands for years. I finally wised up and started wearing ear plugs, and then retired from live music. I think distraction is the key. If I focus on it / obsess over it, it gets worse. If can distract myself it goes away pretty quickly. The trick is to finding an activity that distracts you reliably. Maybe save that activity for when you need it, so you don't get bored with it.

There's another mental trick I do when I get hit with it in the middle of the night. I will visualize a pair of faders as vividly as I can in my mind. Like the slider controls you see on a sound board. I imagine these faders as being hard-wired to the "channel" that is making the sound. In my mind's eye, I slowly turn those faders down. I know this sounds like woo-woo bullshit, and it is woo-woo bullshit. But for some reason it helps me. Or maybe I'm just distracting myself enough for it to fade on its own. But it feels very real to me when I'm half-asleep and annoyed by the noise.

I don't know, I guess you can make it up, but that noise could be caused by fatigue, stress or plain lack of good sleep, in my experience.

It's possible that you need to rest a bit. I'd suggest trying to note if you hear that more often when you're tired.

In other hand, my gf has tinnitus and she finds it hard to hear anything that's quiet, like if the sound was actually there. Maybe that's another thing you could test, but I don't really know how it works.

I think the intensity of tinnitus varies from person to person. For me it's a constant ringing that doesn't affect my life too badly. To the fellow that started Texas Roadhouse restaurants and killed himself, I assume it was much worse. From what I've read there's a couple of things that cause tinnitus. Ginko biloba addresses one of those causes. It's cheap and available in any drugstore without a prescription and IMO is worth a try.

Scratch an E inside your glasses. Now you don't have tinnitus, it's just really intense reading. Chaotic stoicism for the win.

Tinnitus sucks.