Masking Patterns for Partially Masked Tinnitus

Tinnitus isomasking contours were determined for unmasked tinnitus and for tinnitus partially masked by high-pass noise. The noise was selected so that it masked all but the low frequency components of the tinnitus. As a control, the masking pattern of an external tone in the tinnitus region and in the presence of the high-pass noise was compared with that of the partially masked tinnitus. Frequency-specific masking was obtained for the external tone but not for the partially masked tinnitus. This suggests that even narrowband tinnitus is not masked in the cochlea. Thus, tinnitus maskers need not include the frequency region presumed to contain the tinnitus.