Tinnitus, or the ringing of the ears, is defined as the perception of a continuous sound, in the absence of a corresponding acoustic stimulus in the external environment. It is estimated that in Europe over 70 million people experience tinnitus and that for 7 million it creates a chronic incapacitating condition, tenaciously haunting them up to the point where it interferes with every aspect of their daily living. Residing within and confined to the individuals subjective and perceptual experience, tinnitus is not measurable or quantifiable by objective physical recordings, and is furthermore not traceable to disease, injury, or pathology in the brain or elsewhere. Empirical evidence for either the effectiveness of curative tinnitus treatments or for audiological interventions, such as hearing-aids, and sound-generating devices to mask the sound, is lacking. Moreover, the audiometric characteristics of the tinnitus sound (loudness/pitch) hardly predict severity of the condition, or treatment outcomes. Contrary to scientific evidence, the clinical practice of masking/attenuating the tinnitus-sound is still the most widespread tinnitus-treatment approach. Presently I propose the counterintuitive conjecture that it is not the sound itself which is so devastating, but rather the fear-conditioned responses and the associated threat appraisals that maintain severe tinnitus disability. Indeed, empirical evidence is growing for the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral approach and our recent findings support the importance of addressing tinnitus-related fear and fear-responses in the management of patients with disabling tinnitus. In this project I will experimentally test the idea that initial threat-appraisal and fearful responses predict increased tinnitus suffering. In addition, I will test the idea that exposure to the tinnitus sound is an effective way of decreasing fear of tinnitus and disability in the long term, whereas masking the sound is counterproductive. My research may provide an important impetus for the development of novel tinnitus-treatment approaches. Keywords: Tinnitus, threat-appraisal, fear-conditioning, exposure, masking