About a year ago, my husband began complaining. He said that when he laid down at night he could hear a faint thudding of his heartbeat in the ears. At first, the noise was nothing more than an annoyance, but it soon grew to be a problem. As the weeks and months passed, the dull thudding became a louder humming, an almost constant sound. Even worse, while this aggravating symptom first occurred only when he laid down, eventually the noise began to accompany him during the day as well. He once told me that the noise was like a discordant symphony ringing in his ears.