Personality and coping mechanisms are related to a patient's perception of his tinnitus. Although the occurrence of tinnitus is not unusual, the nature of tinnitus varies in patients from infrequent, barely noticeable sound to an unrelenting, absorbing disturbance of critical significance. Tinnitus is a subjective complaint. The same level of tinnitus may be described by one patient as intolerable and by another as barely noticeable.