After using ear plugs for years, I stopped (like an idiot) and developed pretty severe tinnitus. I went to an ears nose and throat (ENT) doctor who said "Just learn to live with it, there's nothing you can do about it."

I believed that for about three years, until it got REALLY bad. Desperate, I googled "tinnitus treatment" and found an audiologist fairly close who claimed she treated it.

When I went in, she asked me, on a scale of 1 - 10, how bad it was. I said about 7. She put headphones on me, for about a minute or so, which had some sound going on. When I took them off, she asked how bad it was.

"Um, about 1. Maybe less. That sound confused my brain, right?"

Yup.

So I got these rather expensive hearing aids (80% covered by insurance, thank you ACA). Not only do I hear amazingly better, but I can choose what sound I want - chimes, or white noise, and I used it religiously for about 6 months. The tinnitus didn't go away completely, but it got MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better. I use the hearing aids every day, but haven't used the tones much lately. The tinnitus came back (it's not a cure, it's a treatment), so I put them back on every once in awhile for a few days and it goes away, for all intents and purposes.

Just my experience, your mileage may vary.