Ultrasonic hearing in humans: applications for tinnitus treatment.

Masking of tinnitus is possible using high audio frequencies and low-frequency ultrasound. The mechanisms involved in reception and perception of both audio frequencies and ultrasound are identical, with the exception that ultrasound interacts with an intermediary site, the brain. We proposed brain ultrasonic demodulation as the means of place-mapping ultrasound on the first few millimeters of the basilar membrane. We present modeling and psychoacoustic data in support of this theory.