do you ask about virtual simulation of sound or real sound?
Iām asking about the perception of sound. Doesnāt matter if the sound (as in vibrations in the air) exists or not.
perception of what kind of sound? Of sound that you perfectly aware that is not real, or of sound like breathing?
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Not breathing, sound with unknown source. For me, I hear continuous, high-pitched sound(s). Itās quiet and therefore usually disappears within other, daily sounds. But if I listen into myself, itās always there.
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I hear my own body, the air passing through my throat, my heartbeat. Also I hear a couple of high pitched tones and high pitched noise. I can make the high tones louder by locking my jaw in a certain way, which also adds some low rumble presumably caused by muscles.
It has never been loud enough to be an annoyance, and Iām also certain that itās been with me for all my life (so also before I started playing in bands and going to loud concerts)
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I think I know what you mean and I have noticed that sometimes it is more pronounced.
It is very possible that this is kind of a āwhite noiseā kind of thing that we can perceive from all the technology working around us.
Have you tried going to the countryside - in a field or something where there are only plants/forests - and see if you can hear it. I have tried it in a sense and I think that when I am there I cannot hear anything of the sort.
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Iād still hear it, itās independent of environment. I know I hear it when camping in the middle of nowhere, going out in the dark to take a leak and hearing a twig snap a couple of feet away; then you suddenly superfocus on sound, and I remember that I could hear the same high noise.
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Years ago, I left Athens for about six months, after living there for years. Iād been away for long vacations and stuff, but never for that long and never for almost exclusively deep countryside. When I got back, while I was getting closer (think Elefsina) I suddenly started hearing a sound, like a buzzing. I realised I was hearing Athens. I never had that experience again, I think because subconsciously I now know that itās there.
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Could be tinnitus?
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Yeah possibly a weak form of it, since itās not causing me problems so far. According to wikipedia
Nearly everyone experiences faint ānormal tinnitusā in a completely quiet room;
ā¦ but who knows if thatās really true, hence the poll.
I havenāt intentionally tried it, so I donāt know if Iād still hear it. But I strongly suspect that I would still hear it. In fact itās the quiet places where Iām most aware of hearing it 
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Ha, I forgot my tinnitus when thinking about the question. ;).
Depending on how stressed out I am, my tinnitus is very loud or rather faint. It actually comes automatically when your hearing gets worse - thatās what my doctor told me. My hearing is not bad enough that I would need a hearing aid yet, but itās still unusually bad for my age (itās inherited; has been the same for my mother), and I canāt hear high frequencies anymore - e.g. I canāt hear crickets chirping, but I have tinnitus at around those frequencies.
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