Pure tones for tinnitus matching and sound therapy
Find the pitch of your ringing, experiment with masking, and explore notched sound therapy using clean, adjustable pure tones.
Open the tone generatorNot medical advice. This page is educational. ToneSynth is not a diagnostic or treatment tool. Tinnitus can signal an underlying condition, and sudden, one-sided, or pulsatile tinnitus needs prompt medical attention. Talk to an audiologist or ENT specialist before starting any sound-therapy routine.
Tinnitus is the perception of sound with no external source, usually heard as a ring, hiss, buzz, or tone. For many people it sits at a fairly specific pitch. A tone generator lets you play a single, clean frequency and compare it directly against what you hear, which is something a noisy environment or a music track cannot do.
A sine wave is the right tool here because it contains only one frequency with no harmonics. That makes the match unambiguous: when the tone lines up with your tinnitus, the two sounds tend to fuse together. ToneSynth defaults to a sine wave, so you can start matching immediately.
Sweep and fine-tune a sine wave until it sits on top of your tinnitus to estimate its frequency.
A quiet tone near your tinnitus pitch can make the ringing less noticeable for a while.
Knowing your approximate pitch gives an audiologist a useful starting point.
Use good headphones in a quiet room and keep the volume low. You are matching pitch, not loudness, so there is no need to make the tone loud.
Tinnitus pitch can drift from day to day, so treat the number as an estimate rather than a fixed measurement. Re-checking on a few separate days gives a more reliable picture.
Once you have a rough pitch, there are two common approaches people explore with a tone generator. Neither is a cure, and results vary from person to person.
Masking means playing a sound at or near your tinnitus frequency at a low, comfortable level so the ringing fades into the background. Some people find a steady tone works; others prefer broadband noise, which a sibling tool like Focus Hum can provide. The goal is relief in the moment, not silence.
Notched sound therapy takes the opposite tack: you listen to sound with energy removed around your tinnitus frequency. Research on notched music therapy suggests it may gradually reduce tinnitus loudness for some listeners over weeks of regular listening. A single tone generator cannot create a notch on its own, but identifying your pitch is the first step toward setting one up with other tools.
Tonal tinnitus most often falls in the 3 kHz to 8 kHz range, frequently near a region of high-frequency hearing loss. That said, it can occur at any pitch, and some people hear a hiss or roar rather than a clear tone. The only way to find yours is to match it by ear.
No. A tone generator is a measurement and self-help aid, not a treatment. Masking can offer short-term relief and notched therapy may help over time, but evidence is mixed and individual. See a qualified professional for assessment and a plan.
Keep the volume low and your sessions short. Loud sounds can aggravate tinnitus and damage hearing, and the ear is most vulnerable around 3 to 4 kHz, exactly where you may be matching. If a tone feels uncomfortable or your tinnitus worsens, stop.
When an external pure tone matches the frequency of your tinnitus, the brain often stops separating the two and they blend into a single sound. That fusion is the cue that you have found a close match. Nudge the fine-tune buttons to confirm where it locks in.
For matching a faint pitch or playing quiet background sound for a while, a comfortable, low-distortion pair makes the experience easier on the ears:
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Open the generator, switch to a sine wave, and sweep up until the tone meets your tinnitus.
Start matchingCheck your frequency range
Psychoacoustics and masking
Broadband noise for masking