Can White Noise Generators / Maskers Cause Hearing Distortion? If So, What's the Mechanism?

[Stanlex]

Hi.

I have read from a few sources on the internet, including tinnitus masker manufacturers, about masking tinnitus. It has been stated that it is complicated to mask high-pitched or too loud tinnitus because the masker needs to be loud and the distortion is then too significant.

Can anyone tell me what is meant by distortion?

Is it just reactive tinnitus that reacts to the white noise emitted by the masker? Or some other kind of distortion of the hearing? It is not entirely clear to me how can a masker cause such distortions.

If the former case is true, then it is weird because I wouldn't say reactive tinnitus is so common, outside of Tinnitus Talk.

Can anyone who use maskers explain what this means?

 

[David S]

This means that you should never try to mask severe tinnitus. It might just make your condition worse. The sound generators should be set very low (but still very audible) and far from masking your tinnitus.