Psychoacoustics of Tinnitus: Lost in Translation

Abstract

Tinnitus: What Is It? Tinnitus is the perception of sound without an external source, often experienced as a constant or frequent ringing, humming, or buzzing. Tinnitus is reported by more than 50 million people in the United States alone (Shargorodsky et al., 2010); conservatively 1 in 10 US adults has tinnitus (Bhatt et al., 2016). It is estimated that 20-25% of patients with tinnitus consider the symptoms to be a significant problem (Seidman and Jacobson, 1996).