What Happens in the Brain During Residual Inhibition?

[Don Tinny]

I notice that the days I have the most severe tinnitus, those days when more sounds appear, I can mask the tinnitus with some trebly sound (running water, keys, grocery bags) and then experience a few seconds in which the tinnitus seems to calm down.

What happens neurologically during those seconds?

Does my brain stop producing the sound with the same intensity or is it just a matter of perception?

 

[Kriszti]

I would like to "revive" this thread and ask more about residual inhibition. I'm familiar with that residual inhibition happens if you match the frequency of your tinnitus, and then for some time the tinnitus might stop.

Do we know why? What's the underlying mechanism of residual inhibition?

Does it only work for tinnitus causes other than hair cell loss? If the hair cells are dead or damaged at a certain frequency, how can the brain react to that frequency from external sources?