What is the difference between a "hum" and "ringing in the ears?"
Thank you.

This is a good question.

I have some nerve damage in my left ear, and it has tinnitus which varies during the day. This is a high pitched sound like
static you might hear from a microphone that was not working correctly.

The hum is a global sound in my head, it overpowers the hiss in my right ear and feels like a REAL sound. For me it is like a choral group singing a one note hum. It feels somewhat musical to me. (not like the description from the link I gave).
And sometimes it changes pitch by one note, but not always.
I hear it mostly at our very quiet home up North. We live on
rock...limestone rock...and when it started for me, I thought it was coming up thru the stone. Like a vibration, more than a sound. It also had a distant quality, but was pretty loud.

I've only heard it here a few times, not often.
For me it is not everyday, or constant. But it is WEIRD.

Hmmmmmmm Just what I hear Nothing like the hums people have reported around the world, that sounds like an idling diesel engine, mine is a hum in the lower octave but not real low.. I also have sever tinnitus in both ears..

The strange part is it is mostly in my right ear, The one that does not have a hearing bone in it, so there is no way for outside sounds to get to the hearing nerve... And it almost vibrates. When I first noticed it, I went around the house looking for the source, even holding my hands on the walls and floors to see if I Could feel it.

Its really weird, no else hears it, and I can hear it almost everywhere I go..Sometimes Louder than others, like right now it is loud, but so is the ringing, which gets louder with some meds.. and it does fluctuate in intensity and tone, tone only a little.

I place the sound as being like a lawnmower or something like it , far in the distance and I am waiting for the SOB to turn it off...