Attemps to relieve tinnitus.

The major effect here has been to present two forms of treatment which have provided relief of tinnitus for some patients. Use of a properly fitted hearing aid relieves tinnitus when that tinnitus is embedded within the frequency region of the hearing loss. When the use of a hearing aid is counterindicated, then use of the tinnitus masker can bring relief for certain kinds of tinnitus. At present the only tinnitus masker available presents a band of noise of moderate frequencies, and it is capable of relieving tinnitus in that frequency region or near it. When masking of tinnitus is effective it produces a suppresion of the tinnitus which extends beyond the duration of the masker. This is termed residual inhibition, a matter about which we need to know a great deal more. For tinnitus which is intractable to medical treatment it has become a practice to instruct the patient that he must learn to live with his affliction. It is hoped that this presentation will cast doubt upon that view, for it can be seen that there are many tinnitus sufferers for whom much can be done.