Tinnitus Maskers—Successes and Failures: A report on the State of the Art

Extract

Much work has been done on the concept of an ear level masker by Vernon (1977) and others in the U.S.A. The purpose of our small study in the U.K. was to see whether a low priced ‘Universal’ masking instrument would be-of value.

The maskers were manufactured by George Williams Engineering Ltd and distributed through the Royal National Institute for the Deaf at cost price (Hazell, 1977). The R.N.I.D. already supplies a number of environmental aids for hearing impaired people (such as flashing light door bells, baby alarms, etc) and it was not too difficult to add the prototype ear level masker to this list. The maskers retailed at £25. If the masker proved ineffective a full refund was made on return of the masker. Fitting was carried out in some cases at the Tinnitus Clinic held at University College Hospital, London, and in others by regional Audiology Centres. In all cases the names and addresses of those who purchased maskers were retained and all were circulated with questionnaires some three months after purchase of the masker.