(2 of 2) Was definitely inflammation and not a sudden death of thousands of cochlear hair cells like I originally feared. Still gets annoying sometimes, but a little rest, some water, and stretching my neck and jaw, and I'm better.
(1 of 2) Four year mark: right now it's kinda like if I had just listened to a tape on a walkman and it's at the blank part at the end and I forgot to switch it off but there's some tape hiss. I listen to whole albums in the car and it's mostly great, with occasional annoying moments.