Method and device for tinnitus masking

A computer readable non-transitory memory medium embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for generating optimized tinnitus masks, the method comprising the following operations:

• presenting stimuli in succession to a user;
• receiving the user's rating of the effectiveness of each presented stimulus in reducing tinnitus;
• selecting a subset of the stimuli to maintain as tinnitus masks;
• generating variant stimuli from the subset of the stimuli that is maintained as tinnitus masks;
• storing tinnitus masks generated from the variant stimuli in a non-transitory memory medium of a secondary device;
• and,
• supplying the tinnitus masks from the secondary device.

A system for alleviating the effects of tinnitus, the system comprising:

• a first device comprising:
• a non-transitory memory storage;
• a processor coupled to the storage, wherein the processor is configured to perform the following operations:
• presenting stimuli in succession to a user;
• receiving the user's rating of the effectiveness of each presented stimulus in reducing tinnitus;
• selecting a subset of the stimuli to maintain as tinnitus masks;
• generating variant stimuli from the subset of the stimuli that is maintained as tinnitus masks;
• and
• second device comprising:
• a non-transitory memory storage configured to accept the tinnitus masks generated from the variant stimuli.

A method for optimizing tinnitus masks, the method comprising the following operations:

• identifying a set of parent tinnitus masks;
• generating a set of offspring tinnitus masks;
• storing the offspring tinnitus masks in a non-transitory memory medium;
• receiving a rating of the effectiveness of each offspring tinnitus mask in reducing tinnitus;
• determining whether to terminate the process;
• and,
• in response to terminating the process, storing the offspring tinnitus masks in a non-transitory memory medium of a secondary device.

A computer readable non-transitory memory medium embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for optimizing tinnitus masks, the method comprising the following operations:

• identifying a set of parent tinnitus masks;
• generating a set of offspring tinnitus masks;
• receiving a rating of the effectiveness of each offspring tinnitus mask in reducing tinnitus;
• determining whether to terminate the process;
• and,
• in response to terminating the process, storing the offspring tinnitus masks in a non-transitory memory medium of a secondary device.

A method for the collection and sharing of tinnitus masks, the method comprising the following operations:

• a first device uploading tinnitus masks to a non-transitory memory database, where the tinnitus masks are optimized for use by a first user;
• downloading from the database, the optimized tinnitus masks developed by the first user, for use by a second user;
• and
• utilizing the downloaded optimized tinnitus masks in the optimization of personalized tinnitus masks, to accelerate the search for personalized tinnitus masks that alleviate second user suffering.

A computer readable non-transitory memory medium embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for the collection and sharing of tinnitus masks, the method comprising the following operations:

• a first device uploading tinnitus masks to a database, where the tinnitus masks are optimized for use by a first user;
• downloading from the database, the optimized tinnitus masks developed by the first user, for use by a second user;
• and
• utilizing the downloaded optimized tinnitus masks in the optimization of personalized tinnitus masks, to accelerate the search for personalized tinnitus masks that alleviate second user suffering.