I'm mainly thinking that the "sound" of tinnitus may be inherent in the brain, and the problem is the percept itself, not a percept of the tinitus, but the percept being generated while nothing was perceived, and so we become aware of this weird almost impossibly fine hight pitch.
It kind of fits with the patterns I and many other people describe, like the intensity varying with sleepiness and other mental state, and how it goes away if we hear _actual_ sounds of a broad enough spectrum..
It might be this little thing where it comes on by mistake, but it doesn't turn off again, and we latch onto it, and that's the feedback loop that enforces it..
I'm not saying we can "think it away" but I'm noticing in myself, that I didn't have any tinnitus _AT_ALL_ when I woke up, and now I'm almost consumed by this 20khz tone (my hearing stops around 16khz), and sitting here playing with that in my mind, I can certainly make it dim somewhat.
I wonder if there are some cognitive exercises that can be done especially for people who either don't have it, or have gotten it very recently. (Literature talks about some meditation and mindfulness, which I'm generally not a big believer in, but nevertheless, those do touch on the idea of messing around inside ones head in a top-down way).
I'm not too hooked on the idea that adhd is simply a "different kind of brain", I don't buy that we were the excellent survivors or hunters, I'm pretty sure I'd be the caveman who was eaten by a bear because I was too distracted by the pattern of shadows from two branches moving just the right way xD
I don't really blame myself, but I don't need to defend my condition (my personal condition, I'm not speaking on behalf of others), I've always been bothered by it, not simply when the mirror of expectation and society is held up against me, but even when left to do as I please, I find that while there are areas in which I function, and function well, there are areas where I'm so limited that it seems unreasonable even within my own framework. :)