I have had this humming, ringing, and a "band playing" in my left ear for the last 2 years. I have had the hearing test, the exam, etc. . I also told my dr. what I am hearing and he pats me on the back and says, well, as we age, bla, bla. I am only 67. I was 65 when it started. I feel like he just blew me off. Where do you go from here? So my friend told me maybe I should put a noise machine next to my bed and see if that helps. I tried several different sounds and decided on rain. For the most part, it has been helping a lot. In fact, I will not sleep unless my machine is on. But lately, I am hearing voices. I would turn off the machine thinking who is talking outside my house? Thing is, I live in the country. Our houses are far apart from each other and obviously there are no busy streets, sidewalks, etc. where there would be people. It scared me. I thought, okay, this is a fluke. Whatever. Really trying not to freak out. But night after night, I kept hearing people talking and it seemed as if it was coming from the machine. And as one person wrote, he isn't hearing voices talking to him; he is hearing people talking. I was relieved to know that I am not going crazy. But please, by no means am I happy that anyone else is suffering from this affliction. I feel for that person. I so feel for that person. I started to try different sleeping positions and have realized that if I just stay on my back with the machine right next to me, it actually sounds like rain. (without the talking) If I try to sleep on my side, this is when everything starts to sound distorted and the voices start. This is so bizarre. It really helps to read about other experience's. I don't feel so alone in this. I hope and pray that someday they will have something that will help. There has to be an answer; a treatment; something!