What could tinnitus be compared with?
Tinnitus is frequently compared to phantom pain, i.e. a quality of pain that some one might develop after amputation, and which is usually projected in to the limb, which was taken off. We feel that arachnophobia (fear of spiders) also makes a good comparison. Most of us will have difficulty to develop an understanding of phantom pain, but we all have an idea about what arachnophobia might be like. Typically, arachnophobia is in no way related to the objective stimulus (i.e. the size of the spider, which without doubt poses no danger to us); arachnophobia is usually learned at an early age (typically as a result of peer/brother/sister teasing) and tends to augment with time. Just like tinnitus, fear of spiders is not rare. Only for a few unfortunate, it goes as far as to dominate their life and keep them from going places and doing things they would have otherwise done.
