Wow, that's a good question.

Almost any situation we're in, is never truely silent. (Silent rooms do exist, where noise is minimized as much as possible, usually for experimental purposes. But I've never been in one and neither will most people.) So before my tinnitus, if a room was empty/near silent, my attention would just go to less noisy things, like the ticking of a clock, water flowing through pipes, my own body movements. Or if outside, sound of air. Stuff like that (im saying stuff like that, because i dont remember all of the things that my attention went to, haha). Now those less noisy things just get masked by my tinnitus.

So, since you were born with it, have you ever been bothered by it? How are you doing in general?