A year ago, due to a ear infection and lack of good doctors even in this
country, ended up with tinnitus which never went away even after the
infection cleared. In fact the ringing became very noticable after the
infection cleared. I was sure it must have been viral infection, and the
doctor should have prescribed steriods or anti-virals. Anyway no point
in crying over spilt milk.
I went into severe insomnia since the noise was a high pitch noise
(similar to a DELL computer cpu/fan sound). Somehow since I work with
computers wonder if this tinnitus brings out the most common sound you
are accustomed to. The audiologist measured it at 15db (+5db over a
normal persons tinnitus as per audiologist).
I went to Indi'a to try out homeopathic, since all western medication
proved useless (Nortryptalene and Ambien, just boosted the sleep a
little, but 3 hours sleep was max i could ever get). Anyway, homeopathic
did nothing to the tinnitus or sleep.
It so happened while I was there, I was concentrating so much on the
ceiling fan to drown the annoying tinnitus, that at dawn, due to a
dominant background noise of birds chirping on nearby trees, the brain
recorded this damn background noise in association with the fan noise,
so when I returned to the States, the noise of the chirping (very faint
though) comes on when i turn on a fan for the masking. Its so
irritating, that I now use RadioShack "Brook" sound, as I prefer a
steady sound to sleep. Its still no comparision to a fan, but somehow
allows me to get into Stage 1 sleep.

Few things I have noted (even though I have no medical background)
1. The doctors everywhere are good except when it comes to brain
perception.  Couple of doctors in the U.S. told me to stuff cotton in my
ears if the tinnitus was bothering me (what a joke? dont they know the
noise is from the brain perceiving sound and not an actual physical
sound). Even one of the ENT specialists who the ATA has on its website,
gave me the same B.S (just like nerve endings feel pain, so also hair
cells emit noise when they are hurt. The T  will go away in 6 months!)
Maybe there are some bright doctors out there, but overall such a
dissappointment. We can read webmd.com and mayoclinic.com and know as
much as they do.

2. After I had this auditory hallucination (due to over-dependence on
white noise, when a dominant background sound such as birds chirping), I
realized how on earth will someone find a cure for tinnitus to stop this
misfiring neuron with a drug molecule. Other than the patient being a
genius, and trying all permutations of training the brain to stop
phantom noise. It was useless talking to a doctor, since they would
think I was a schizopheniac (who also hear auditory hallucinations, but
probably someone talking to them).

3. I think if a person with tinnitus can sleep over 5 hours, its like
he/she has won the battle with tinnitus. I was averaging only 2 to 3
hours of sleep in the first 6 months of getting tinnitus, probably more
due to the stress/anxiety than the actual damn T noise. But, after
scouring the entire internet (I am a computer freak), and thanks to
websites such as Steve Nagler, ATA (Dhyan Cassie's sleep tips) etc.., I
have boosted my sleep to  6hours despite my job waking me up for on-call
support. In addition to the sleep tips, I have spent a lot of time
exercising, practicing yoga, and now want to try out self-hypnosis for
improving my sleep.

So, for anyone having T/Insomnia and googling and finding this, pls
don't give up. I was a wreck for so many months, and today, I am back to
enjoying my life (with this damn T). the only sad part is if they cannot
find a cure, why can't they advertise in all schools/TV/disco/party
halls etc.. that T is not curable, so pls BE AWARE. But, i guess as long
as Cancer and AIDS take the spotlight, more and more people will get T,
and more will stop sleeping.

Pls note: In western countries, this hallucination effect with masking
should never be an issue, since there is no noise pollution, unless you
are travelling overseas whereby cars honking, church bells ringing
continously over 5mins is a possibility.