Tinnitus frequency finder
To find your tinnitus frequency, play a quiet tone and move it until it sounds like the pitch of your ringing, then fine-tune and check one octave up and down. This free tool sweeps 200 to 16,000 Hz, offers a pure tone or a hiss, and saves your pitch so you can use it for notch therapy.
Keep the tone quiet: match pitch, not loudness. High tones can sound much louder than the slider suggests. Stop if anything is uncomfortable.
How to use it
- Use headphones in a quiet room. Set the volume low.
- Press Play and drag the pitch slider until the tone feels closest to your tinnitus.
- Fine-tune with the semitone and 10 Hz buttons.
- Press Octave up and Octave down. People often land one octave off, so pick whichever of the three matches best.
- If your tinnitus sounds like steam or static, switch to Hiss and repeat.
- Save the pitch. Repeat on two or three different days and use the value you land on most often.
What tinnitus frequency means
Tinnitus frequency is the pitch you hear, measured in hertz (Hz). A low hum might match around 250 to 500 Hz, while a typical high whine matches somewhere between about 3,000 and 8,000 Hz. Pitch often sits near the range where hearing is weakest, which is one reason an audiogram is worth getting.
Why your result may change
Home pitch matching is approximate. Tinnitus can drift through the day, phone and laptop speakers color the sound, and almost everyone finds it hard to compare an internal sound with an external one. Octave confusion is the most common error, which is why the tool has octave buttons. Clinics use calibrated equipment and repeat the test to get a reliable match.
Treat your result as a starting point for choosing sounds, not as a diagnosis.
What to do with your pitch
Knowing your pitch helps in two ways. It tells you which masking sounds will blend best: brighter sounds for high pitches, darker ones for low. And it sets the center of a notch filter, which removes a band around your pitch from the sound you listen to. Use the link under the tool to open notch therapy at the pitch you found.
When to see a clinician
Get checked promptly if tinnitus is new and sudden, only in one ear, pulses with your heartbeat, comes with hearing loss or dizziness, or is getting worse. Sudden hearing loss in particular is treated as urgent. An audiologist can also do pitch and loudness matching properly.
Frequently asked questions
What frequency is tinnitus usually?
It varies widely, but most people with ringing tinnitus match a pitch somewhere between about 3,000 and 8,000 Hz. Humming or buzzing tinnitus matches lower.
Can I test my tinnitus frequency at home?
You can get an approximate match with a tone generator like this one. Use headphones, keep the volume low, check octaves, and repeat on different days. An audiologist’s test is more reliable.
Should I pick tone or hiss?
Pick whichever sounds more like your tinnitus. Whistling or ringing usually matches a pure tone. Steam, static, or cicada-like tinnitus usually matches the hiss.
Is a tinnitus pitch match the same as a hearing test?
No. A hearing test measures the quietest sounds you can hear at each frequency. A pitch match estimates the frequency of the sound you hear internally. Both can be done by an audiologist.
Is the tone safe to listen to?
At low volume and for short periods, yes. Keep it quiet, since you are matching pitch, not loudness, and stop if it is uncomfortable or makes your tinnitus spike.
Sources
- Tunkel DE, et al. Clinical Practice Guideline: Tinnitus. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 2014.
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD): Tinnitus.
Last reviewed by the TinnitusBuddy team.