Objective: The effect of sustained silence was studied on the emergence of tinnitus perception in 120 normal hearing young adult Caucasians and African Americans.
Study Design And Setting: After sitting in a sound booth for a period of 20 minutes, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire documenting whether they perceived sounds in the silent setting and descriptions of the sounds they heard.
Results: Tinnitus-like sounds were perceived in 64% of listeners overall.