Tinnitis masking
AssigneeSound Techniques Systems LLC
InventorMartin L. Lenhardt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for tinnitus masking. Ultrasound noise is provided to a head of a patient as a vibration by way of a transducer, to thereby stimulate the auditory cortex. Once stimulated, the auditory cortex will suppress tinnitus. The ultrasound noise may be provided as an ultrasound frequency tone or as a range of frequencies that have been multiplied with an audio frequency. Pulsed ultrasound is utilized for ultrasound noise in the MHz range.
Claims16
A tinnitus masker, comprising:
- an ultrasound source configured to output at least one ultrasound frequency;
- and
- a vibration unit connected to the ultrasound source and configured to convert the at least one ultrasound frequency to a vibration,
- wherein the vibration unit is coupled to a person who experiences tinnitus in order to provide a vibration within a brain of the person to thereby mask the tinnitus.
A method of masking tinnitus, comprising the step of:
- a) providing ultrasound noise to a head of a patient.
A method of examining a patient in order to provide an ultrasound treatment for that patient, comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of ultrasound frequency tones, in sequence, to the patient, to determine an optimum ultrasound frequency for the patient;
- and
- providing a plurality of audible frequencies modulated by the determined optimum ultrasound frequency, so as to determine a particular audible frequency that is optimum for the patient with respect to ultrasound tinnitus masking.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.