Tinnitus masker sensation level (SL), is how much louder the tinnitus is above the ambient noise of the environment. By raising the ambient level of noise (playing white noise into the ear), the apparent loudness of tinnitus is reduced. The noise level is close to and usually somewhat louder than the perceived loudness of the tinnitus. The generated noise is designed to be a calming, less intrusive sound than the ringing or hissing of tinnitus. Depending on the loudness of the noise, tinnitus may be fully or partially masked. Tinnitus masking cannot reduce or eliminate tinnitus, only reduce awareness of it. The
Tinnitus masker the sound is tuned to the pitch, loudness and other qualities of the tinnitus. However, frequencies widely divergent from the tinnitus frequency may also mask the tinnitus, if they are of sufficient loudness. The minimum energy (or loudness) mask is usually one closely matched to the central frequency and bandwidth of the tinnitus. But it has also been discovered that a tinnitus mask close to the frequency of the tinnitus can be ineffective, while a masker with a different frequency or bandwidth effectively masks the tinnitus. This indicates different origins of tinnitus. Tinnitus maskers may use music or natural sounds,