Tinnitus masker Tinnitus masker Tinnitus maskers are a range of devices based on simple white noise machines which are used to add natural or artificial sound into a tinnitus sufferer's environment in order to mask or cover up the ringing. The noise is supplied by a sound generator which may reside in or above the ear or be placed on a table or elsewhere in the environment. The noise is usually white noise or music, but in some cases it may be patterned sound or specially tailored sound based on the characteristics of the person's tinnitus. The perceived loudness of tinnitus, called
Tinnitus masker for hearing loss. Sound generators (masking devices) have received Class II approval from the FDA. However, they are considered to be “experimental, investigational, or unproven” therapies. There is one report of a bone conduction vibration masker that transmits a 60 Hz fundamental with adjustable harmonics up to 1000 Hz. A commercial device based on the phenomenon (Aurex3) was approved by the FDA. A new development in tinnitus management is the use of high audio (10 kHz-20 kHz) or ultrasonic (20-100 kHz) via bone conduction. A 2012 Cochrane Review stated the available studies do not show strong evidence of the efficacy