Tinnitus masker The ear has a resonance frequency (highest frequency response) at 3,000hz and rolls off at a very steep 26db/octave on the high frequency side. Unfortunately, most tinnitus is associated with hearing loss, and most hearing loss and tinnitus is high frequency. Most maskers are limited to about 6khz of effective output. Higher frequency output results in increasing distortion, and may cause rejection of the device. The minimum masking level (MML) is the minimum amplitude of narrowband noise centered on the tinnitus pitch (or frequency range) necessary to completely mask the tinnitus. Tinnitus maskers are commonly used by tinnitus sufferers when
Tinnitus masker efficacy of a tinnitus masker may depend on the wearer's capacity to experience "residual inhibition," the temporary suppression of tinnitus in response to particular sound patterns. The mechanism of sound masking can be explained by analogy with light. In a dark room where someone is turning a lamp on and off, the light will be obviously noticeable. However if the overhead lights are turned on, turning on the lamp will no longer be as distracting because it has been "masked". The concept that an external sound could suppress perception of an internal one was first realised clinically in the mid