Synthesizing Tinnitus From Sine Waves

Four subjects mimicked the sensation caused by their tinnitus with a complex sound pattern consisting of the sum of sine waves. Matches to the predominant pitch of the tinnitus were generally near one component of the imitation tinnitus, although the predominant pitch of the imitation was not necessarily near the predominant pitch of the genuine tinnitus. Subjects rated the similarity of their tinnitus and all combinations of the tones constituting the imitation and, as a control, also rated the similarity of the imitation and all combinations of its individual components. Although subjects rated the imitation tinnitus as identical to itself when all components of the imitation were present, the imitation was never rated as identical to the genuine tinnitus. However, increasing the number of components in the imitation tinnitus made it more similar to the bona fide tinnitus. Thus, multiple tones provide a better tinnitus imitation than does a single pure tone.