I'm the same. I'm literally cathartic that someone had this same experience. I never, ever heard complete silence - there was always this whirr. I'm a musician so it's easy for everybody to dismiss my problems, but I remember exactly the same things. I always knew if someone turned the TV on. I always heard the TV noise even when it was off. There's also some certain upper-mid frequencies which completely destroy my sanity - bad PA systems and wall reflections are particular banes of my existence.

I've always asked myself - how could I get this if I always had good hearing? Is this even anyone's fault? How could a child have tinnitus when it had no real chance to get it? This entire post+comments has me almost in tears - my tinnitus gets unbearable e.g. when I'm stressed, panicking or overstimulated. It helps to know someone shares my pain, even if this treatment won't become available in my lifetime. I'm used to having stuff playing in the background anyway, it's just the times when I can't drown it out when it's the worst.

PS: BTW, something interesting happened to me recently: I recently visited a retro game museum while on vacation. Being obviously filled with old TVs, the noise was nigh-insufferable for me, but I pushed through because retro games is my thing. We spent ~1hr there and after we left, I felt like my own TV noise was somehow better for the day. Weird.