Tinnitus Tinnitus Tinnitus is the hearing of sound when no external sound is present. While often described as a ringing, it may also sound like a clicking, hiss or roaring. Rarely, unclear voices or music are heard. The sound may be soft or loud, low pitched or high pitched and appear to be coming from one ear or both. Most of the time, it comes on gradually. In some people, the sound causes depression or anxiety and can interfere with concentration. Tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom that can result from a number of underlying causes. One of the
Tinnitus masker in 90% of persons but in rare cases, an hour or more. The period of complete silence is usually seconds to about a minute. 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: the capacity of a sound of the right frequency and intensity to briefly attenuate or suppress tinnitus. To distinguish the tailored sound used for inhibition from the broadband undifferentiated sound employed in tinnitus maskers, it is usually referred to as the 'trigger' or 'quieting' sound. The trigger sound is