Tinnitus maskers, or tinnitus noisers, are small white noise machines that work to “drown out” or overpower the internal sounds of your tinnitus.

However, they don’t work in the same way as playing music or listening to a movie washes out the sound. They use specific noises and tones to dampen the noise in your ears.

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When you listen to music or television, you can focus on the tune, dialogue, or story within a piece of media. With tinnitus maskers, your tinnitus and the masking sound are both delegated to the background. This allows you to focus easier, fall asleep, or relax your mind.

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Think of tinnitus maskers as overhead lights. In a dark room, your tinnitus is a lamp. It’s bright, draws your attention, and might be annoying from where you’re sitting. Tinnitus maskers provide another sound, which is the overhead light. Along with dampening the light from the lamp, it’s larger and easier to adapt to, which allows you to ignore both lights.

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If you think you might benefit from a tinnitus masker, try turning on your faucet. If the sound of the running water drowns out your tinnitus, a masker has a high probability of doing the same thing.