I'm very sorry about this--tinnitus is a crappy condition. On the other hand, now that the ringing has either resolved itself, or I just don't hear it anymore, the only big handicap has been that I can't sing on key.

f I become religious about wearing earplugs in noisy situations now, I will be able to stave off my ears' deterioration for longer.

I'd suggest trading in your earbuds for a pair of big clunky noise-canceling earphones (this will keep your Walkman from further damaging your ears), and investing in top of the line earplugs (the custom-molded kind that has a normalized frequency response, for live shows and clubs.