Stress-induced tinnitus is definitely a thing. I once "caught" mine turning itself on one morning as I was waking up. That is, there had been bliss overnight, only for it to pop into existence the moment I started contemplating the day.

My left ear also used to squeak when I was in deep thought / spiralling about stressful things. I would not be surprised if there's some kind of unconscious control of one of the inner ear muscles going on. I've not had the squeak in a while, either because of medication or because I'm aware of what might be the cause.

That said, I also prefer to keep water out of my ears because that triggers tinnitus the other way: water or wax on the eardrum. Which can then perpetuate itself through the stress form once the physical problem sorts itself out.