Partial Masking

Partial masking sounds reduce the prominence of your tinnitus and help with “pushing” the tinnitus into the background. Sometimes described as habituation.

Think of the following analogies:

• When you first get a new fridge, dishwasher, or kettle it may seem loud at first. However, after a while they fade into the background.
• If you are in a dark room and someone lights a candle it seems very bright. However, if someone then puts on another background light the candle no longer seems as bright.

You can choose the type of masking sounds you like from natural sounds (waterfalls, rivers, waves, showers), or white noise style sounds.

You should keep the volume low and comfortable level and we recommend you do not adjust the volume even when other background noises change in volume. It is safe to have the partial masking sounds playing in the background all day.

The Tinnitus Tunes selection can be streamed from this FidBak audio sharing site. You will also find many other examples available on YouTube or other audio sharing platforms. One we recommend is myNoise You can adjust the sounds to suit your own preferences. The site owner does request a small donation to help support the site maintenance.

If you wear hearing aids they may also include partial masking sounds designed to help your tinnitus.