I have discovered over many times that if I had had a bit too much
beer the night before, I would usually get up the following morning
with (1)a dry mouth and (2)a much louder T sound.

Though i am no doctor and no scientist, i would nevertheless venture
to say that there is at least a correlational if not a casual
relationship between alcohol intake and tinnitus sound.  My
quasi-scientific reasoning is this: depending on the individual, too
much alcohol intake hinders the fluid-pumping function of the liver,
which in turn makes the excretion of salt out of the body less
efficient.  The latter *might* have been responsible, at least partly,
for the over-production of inner ear fluid.

I ran into the archive of ALT once and found a discussion between a
doc and an older couple.  It was one in which the older couple asked
the doc if red wine and cholocate could cause tinnitus and the doctor
gave them a 'go ahead'.  I am not sure about chocolate, but red wine,
like any other spirits, is alcohol- based! And alcohol might have
produced the same effect in this older couple along the line as I
described above.  A glass of red wine might not effect a change in
inner ear fluid of a young and vibrant person on a sunny and sweating
day, but the same glass of red wine consumed in the evening dinner
might break the back of a camel for an elderly.  And one glass might
have led to another.....and another....

Just a thought.

FP