Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 8, 2026

A Protocol for the Administration of Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training
Published on: August 24, 2017
Influence of silence and attention on tinnitus perception
Keila Alessandra Baraldi Knobel1, Tanit Ganz Sanchez
1ENT Department, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil. keila@gabengenharia.com.br
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to study the effect of attention and sustained silence on the emergence of auditory phantom perception in normal-hearing adults.
Study Design:
Cross-sectional survey.
Subjects And Methods:
While sitting in a sound booth, 66 volunteers (age range, 18-65; mean age, 37.3) performed 3 experiments of 5 minutes each, consecutively and randomly presented. Two deviated attention from auditory system (Hanoi and visual attention experiments), and 1 drove attention to the auditory system (auditory attention). After each experiment, participants were asked about their auditory and visual perception. No sound or light change was given at any moment.
Results:
Of the participants, 19.7% experienced tinnitus during Hanoi, 45.5% during visual attention, and 68.2% during auditory attention experiment, with no significant differences for studied variables.
Conclusion:
Tinnitus-like perceptions may occur in a nonclinical population in a silent environment. Concomitant auditory attention plays an important role on the emergence of tinnitus.
Related Concept Videos
Auditory Perception
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
Hearing
Sound Intensity Level
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and hence a...
Perception of Sound Waves
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...
Subliminal Perception

