Figure 6

Masking effects on simulated tinnitus: outside-head vs. inside-head noises. (A) Sound pressure required to mask the simulated tinnitus in all inspections: outside-head vs. inside-head masking noises. In 77.1% (54/70) of measurements, simulated tinnitus could be masked with a lower sound pressure by the outside-head noise (closed symbols) compared to the inside-head noise (open symbols). (B) Sound pressure required to mask the simulated tinnitus of different intensities. All intensities of simulated tinnitus (+ 15, + 25 dB above the threshold) were masked by significantly lower sound pressures by the outside-head noise than the inside-head noise. The horizontal bar next to the plot shows the mean, and the vertical error bars represent the standard deviation.