Patent ID: 7850596

Claim:
A device for providing relief to a person suffering from the disturbing effects of tinnitus, the device comprising: a signal filter configured to spectrally modify at least a portion of an incoming signal including peaks and troughs in accordance with a predetermined masking algorithm designed to modify at least one of the peaks and the troughs of at least a portion of the audio signal at selected frequencies; an output for outputting the spectrally modified signal for treating the tinnitus; and a volume adjusting feature for allowing a patient to adjust the volume of the signal; wherein, at an appropriate listening level, the predetermined masking algorithm accounts for the basic audiometric configuration of the person whereby, in use at a comfortable listening level, when the spectrally modified audio signal is heard by the person during the peaks, the tinnitus is at least substantially obscured and the person perceives significant masking of the tinnitus, and during troughs, the person may occasionally perceive the tinnitus.