system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is physically happening when your ear suddenly starts ringing?
gpt
The first thing to understand is how we perceive sound:  We have outer and inner ear hair cells, and they both detect vibrations and pressure changes of the basilar membrane.  The reason we have two types of hair cells is because, while vibrations travel very efficiently in the fluid of the inner ear, they require a lot of energy (think about trying to run on land vs. trying to run in a pool).

Outer ear cells, then, are designed as amplifiers.  When they detect low energy vibrations, they vibrate in time with them, amplifying the signal and sending it to the inner ear.  Most of the time, this system works perfectly, but - like any biological system - it can get buggy.  Sometimes the outer ear cells will freak out and vibrate on their own, and that's when you get the sudden onset tinnitus.  There's also a control system that will tell the outer ear hair cells to knock it off, but it takes about 30-45 seconds to kick in.