I was born with bad hearing and tinnitus. When I tell people, some are quick to blame attending loud concerts, but I don't think I've attended more than a couple concerts and none were particularly loud. Plus, I had both problems well before the earliest concern I can recall attending.

Some advice: How loud flying is doesn't seem to be appreciated. I don't see any mention of it in the comments here, and when I fly I am one of the few with any hearing protection as far as I can tell. I wear both earplugs and earmuffs. Don't laugh too hard. I've found both to be noticeably better than either alone. I used to fly with nothing, but my tinnitus would be amplified for days after flying. Aside from some people on the plane thinking that I'm weird, I once had a TSA guy ask me if I intended to go shooting when he saw my earmuffs.

I think I've accepted my tinnitus and bad hearing for the most part. It rarely bothers me, and to be honest I sometimes find the tinnitus to be soothing. I think that's because I never knew any different. Tinnitus is the sound of silence to me. I speculate that others who develop these conditions later might feel some loss that I don't.