Last year, Tamworth's air quality monitoring station reported the worst readings in the world.

Research shows about 420 people died of complications from smoke inhalation last bushfire season, including some in our region.

Others continue to suffer the long-term health effects of the toxic pollution.

Medical experts often recommend asthmatic or other at-risk individuals stay indoors when it's smoky outside.

Another option is to use either cheap cloth 'surgical' masks, or the fitted P2 masks, which are more expensive but could be more effective.

But there is no hard evidence supporting any of those three tactics and health institutions do not know how effective they are.

Professor Raina MacIntyre of the Kirby Institute said a new study by UNSW and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research could help change that - but needs local volunteers.

She said the research will be the world's first randomised controlled trial into the issue - the gold standard of medical research.

"For any intervention, the ultimate proof of how it works is a randomised controlled clinical trial. There's never been a randomised controlled clinical trial of this, so that's what we're seeking to do," she said.

"It was prompted by the catastrophic fire season we had last year, a year ago."

They need about 300 volunteers from around the country. The volunteers will be randomly sorted and asked to adopt one of the three tactics for the entire fire season.

They will then be asked to make a diary of the air quality and their health outcomes, like GP or hospital visits.

Professor MacIntyre said the study could be of use around the world, anywhere bushfires regularly burn.

"California in particular has had really catastrophic wildfires and health issues for people having smoke exposure. I think it will be informative globally, for any country that's facing bushfire threats," she said.

"The climate is getting more severe as time goes on, so it's going to become a more and more pressing concern."

The study is heavily dependent on signing up people who are in regions exposed to smoke from hazard reduction burns or bushfires.

Professor MacIntyre said if the season proves to be a quiet one, that could force them to run the study twice.

"We'll run the study next year if we don't get enough statistical power to answer questions through this summer," she said.

Interested residents can sign up for the inquiry here.