My tinnitus doesn't care if things are loud or not. Most of the time it sounds like a forced draft blower for a Naval boiler room.
I wore double ear protection. We had those foam type ear plugs and 'Mickey Mouse', headset style hearing protection.
When you communicate, you pull off one side of'Mickey Mouse' and shout the orders back to make sure you heard them correctly. Even with the hearing protection, you still have that background noise after that watched was finished, not unlike after a concert.
I have to sorta read lips almost all the time. If someone turns away and talks, they better be loud for me to hear. Then there are times I can't understand most of what people say, no matter how loud they speak.