Tinnitus masker

Tinnitus maskers are a range of devices based on simple white noise machines used to add natural or artificial sound into a tinnitus sufferer's environment in order to mask or cover up the ringing.

The generated noise is designed to be a calming, less intrusive sound than the ringing or hissing of tinnitus.

The concept that an external sound could suppress perception of an internal one was first realised clinically in the mid-1970s by Dr. Jack Vernon, when he reported that white noise was effective in alleviating tinnitus.

It is an acoustic or neurological effect that results in temporary suppression of tinnitus by listening to an appropriately tailored sound for a short period.

If the trigger sound is repeated at intervals, tinnitus can be suppressed as long as the repetition lasts.

The residual inhibition (RI) effect, first noted in 1903, is the capacity of a sound of the right frequency and intensity to briefly attenuate or suppress tinnitus.

The minimum energy (or loudness) mask is usually one closely matched to the central frequency and bandwidth of the tinnitus.

Temporally patterned sound may be more effective than white noise or background music in masking tinnitus.

In some cases, the required masking amplitude is so high as to cause discomfort to the user of the sound generator, and the tinnitus is therefore considered unmaskable.

Therefore, the optimal tinnitus mask may need to be adjusted periodically, within days, hours, or even minutes.

So a fixed recording (i.e. CD, DVD or audio file) of a tinnitus mask is not a very efficacious application.

These people may employ wearable hearing aids which amplify ambient sound, generate low level wide band sounds such as white noise, or combination devices that mix both functions into one device.

[4] Sound generators (masking devices) have received Class II approval from the FDA.

Bose Sleepbuds II comes with an app that streams white noise (and soundscapes, and ambient music).