[Tinnitus: etiology and management. I].

At first the essential conceptions concerning tinnitus in connection with sensorineural hearing losses are reported. Correlation of tinnitus with the pure tone threshold and spontaneous activities are proved by electrophysiologic and psychoacoustic tests. The sensation arising by the tinnitus concerning tonal quality and loudness is compared with external signals as well as the masking tinnitus by noise and pure tones. Masking and the temporal shift of tinnitus when masked was investigated for tinnitus of experimental and sensorineural origin. A method for classifications is described and examples are presented. Possibilities for physical and medical effects on tinnitus are discussed. The difficulties of treatment are exhibited by means of a new model concerning tinnitus.