Ringing in the ears

For the past couple of years I have experienced an ongoing ringing in the ears.  The medical term is tinnitus.  If I am remembering right, it started after taking a trip east.  We drove through the mountains of West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.  Being from flat Wisconsin, those places provide quite a bit of ascending and descending, as possible prelude to ringing of the ears.   I also remember having my ear buds in and playing my podcasts loud so that I could hear what was being said.  Shortly after that trip, I remember becoming conscience to the ringing.  I wonder if it has been there before than but I wasn't paying attention to it.  That is possible.  It maybe that it has just increased recently.  Over the last week or so, it seems to have picked up a level.  Now even while I am watching and listening to the television, the ringing will come through.  Sleep seems to be the only time I can shut it off completely.  It has me concerned as it may eventually become distracting or diminish my hearing ability if it hasn't already.  I have listened to loud music in the past and I have been around machinery that was loud.  However, I don't believe I have done either of these things especially long or loud but temporarily.  I have not used my ear buds in a while hoping that would lower the level of ringing.  I also wonder if using a Q-tip to clean my ear after showering was a cause of the problem.  Right now, I do not have a solution.  I usually listen to the radio and podcasts during the day.  Maybe I need to go over to almost no audio for a while just to experiment.  If I find a solution, I will definitely write about it.