A Method of Measurement of Tinnitus Aurium

The field of aural tinnitus has escaped extensive scientific study primarily because no method of objectively studying this subjective symptom has been available. This paper is a preliminary report of a method that I have developed for the measurement of the pitches and intensities of tinnitus, and of some of the findings. The point of departure in this study was the observation that when a sound of the same fundamental pitch as the tinnitus is superimposed on the ear, a masking of the superimposed note by the tinnitus is found, instead of a summation of intensities ; one would not expect this result if the mechanism of tinnitus and of hearing of sound from the outer world were similar. In a fairly large series of cases it was found that the intensity of the superimposed sound required for hearing of the sound, above the normal threshold for that frequency, constitutes a