I can provoke my tinnitus (make it audible and increase its volume a lot) by pulling my chin back / stiffen my neck in specific ways. I don't mind it. It always goes away soon after. But it's curious. Never got a proper diagnose for it.
(If someone wants me to participate in studies about this)
Huh, me too. I'd just assumed that was normal; been this way for as long as I can remember (years); tho I have had random short bouts (<30nin) of tinnitus more frequently over past few months.
I think (!!! the following not well researched, and part guessing) there is at least two different versions of tinnitus.
One is (the standard?) that you get from loud music and stress, which is the result of your inner ear / hair cells being damaged / misbehaving. Extreme-case: You permanently lose part of your hearing.
The second (rare?) is without impairment of hearing. To be honest you are the second person I know who shares my experience. And none of my doctors ever heard of this before. Most think I imagine this / or it's a psychological issue manifesting in your body.
I'd guess it's some kind of nerve pinching, maybe bones/muscles are involved too. Hard to say.
A few years back when I researched this I found at least one study with 10-20 individuals who reported this kind of tinnitus, but seems very rare. The result was something like "Many factors are involved in creating a tinnitus".
> Most think I imagine this / or it's a psychological issue manifesting in your body
That's a shame. The fact that it amplifies as soon as I tense my neck muscles should be testable within a lab environment.
I too thought that it was nerve pinching, and because of such, was always under the impression that it was normal. When explaining this to my wife, I just get blank stares :)
(If someone wants me to participate in studies about this)