Tinnitus Frequency Matcher

Find the pitch that matches the ringing you hear.

Everything runs in your browser. No audio is ever uploaded.

Start with the volume low and raise it only until the tone is just audible. Matching works at a quiet level, and a loud tone in this range can make ringing worse. Stop at once if it becomes uncomfortable.

Step 1: match the pitch

Play the tone and move the slider until it sounds like the same pitch as your tinnitus. Do not worry about the volume matching; only the pitch matters here. Use the nudge buttons for the last small steps.

Frequency4000.0 Hz

The slider is logarithmic, so every octave takes the same distance.

Headphones are strongly recommended. Speakers color the high end and leak into both ears, which makes a one-sided match impossible.

Settings

Volume-30 dB

Balance0

Tinnitus is often louder in one ear. Move the balance toward that ear to match it on its own.

Audio starts on your first tap on Play, as required by your browser. Press Space to start or stop.

A tinnitus frequency matcher lets you slide a tone until it sits on the ringing you hear and reports the pitch in hertz. This tinnitus pitch matching tool, also called a tinnitus tone test or a ringing frequency finder, adds the octave check that pitch matching needs. It is a self-check, never a diagnosis.

This is a self-check, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. It measures the tone your browser plays, not your ear, and the result depends on your headphones and on how the pitch feels to you on the day.

How to use it

Put on headphones and start with the volume low. Matching works at a level just above audible, and a loud tone in this range is uncomfortable and can make ringing more noticeable. Stop at once if it becomes unpleasant.
Play the tone and move the frequency slider until it sounds like the same pitch as your tinnitus. Ignore loudness entirely; only pitch matters at this stage. The slider is logarithmic, so every octave takes the same distance.
Use the nudge buttons for the last small steps, and move the balance toward the louder ear if your tinnitus is one sided. Matching one ear at a time is more reliable than trying to match both at once.
Go to the octave check. Play the tone you matched, the one an octave below and the one an octave above, then pick whichever sits closest. This step exists because picking a tone exactly one octave away is the classic mistake in pitch matching.
Read the result in hertz with its nearest musical note, and copy it if you want to keep it or bring it to an appointment. Start over runs the whole thing again, and a second run on another day is worth doing.

What you can use it for

Putting a number on something hard to describe. Ringing at 6.2 kHz is a great deal easier to talk about than a high pitched noise, whether you are talking to a doctor or to someone who has never had it.

Preparing for an appointment. A doctor or an audiologist will do their own pitch matching with calibrated equipment, but arriving with a rough figure and a note of which ear helps the conversation start further along.

Choosing background sound. Knowing roughly where your tinnitus sits makes it easier to pick noise that covers it comfortably, which is what people mean by masking or sound therapy.

Noticing change over time. Run the match every few weeks under the same conditions. A drift in your own series is worth mentioning to a professional; a single reading on its own is not.

Explaining it to someone else. Playing your matched tone quietly for a family member conveys in five seconds what a paragraph of description does not.

Reading your result honestly

Octave confusion is the known failure mode of pitch matching. A tone one octave away from the one you hear shares most of its character, and listeners pick the wrong octave often enough that clinical protocols build in a confirmation step. That is exactly what step two is for, and it is worth taking seriously even when you feel certain.

What the result is: the frequency of a sine tone that you judged to be the same pitch as your tinnitus, on your headphones, on this day. It is a description of a perception, and having a number for it makes it easier to talk about and to track.

What the result is not: a measurement of your ear, an indication of severity, a cause, or anything that can be interpreted as a diagnosis. Tinnitus that is new, one sided, pulsing, worsening, or accompanied by hearing loss or dizziness belongs with a doctor or an audiologist, whatever number this page produced.

Sound therapy and masking exist and many people find them useful, but they are ways of managing how much you notice the sound, not a cure. Quiet broadband noise in the background is the usual approach, and pink or brown noise is often easier to live with than white. Anything beyond background sound is a conversation to have with a professional.

Accuracy and limits

The page measures the tone it plays, not your ear. Your headphones colour the high end, a Bluetooth codec changes it further, and the frequency shown is the one requested from the audio engine. Two different pairs of headphones can easily give two different matches.

Pitch matching is inherently variable. Tinnitus is often not a pure tone at all but a band of noise, its perceived pitch can shift during the day, and the same person can land on a different figure on two separate attempts. Treat the result as approximate and repeat it.

This is a self-check, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. It cannot tell you what is causing your tinnitus, whether it will change, or what to do about it. Those are questions for a doctor or an audiologist, who can look for causes this page cannot.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find the frequency of my tinnitus?

Play the tone quietly through headphones and move the slider until the pitch matches what you hear, then run the octave check and pick the closest of the three candidates. The result is the frequency of that tone in hertz.

What frequency is tinnitus usually?

Most people match a high pitch, commonly somewhere between about 3 kHz and 8 kHz, though lower and higher matches both occur and a hissing or roaring tinnitus may not match a pure tone well at all. Your own value is worth more than any typical range, and its interpretation belongs to a professional.

Can knowing the frequency cure my tinnitus?

No. A pitch match is a description, not a treatment. Knowing it can help you choose background sound that covers the ringing comfortably, and it gives a doctor or an audiologist something concrete to work with, but the number itself changes nothing on its own.

Does masking or sound therapy help?

Many people find quiet background noise makes tinnitus easier to ignore, especially when falling asleep, and structured sound therapy programmes exist for that reason. These are ways of managing how much you notice it rather than a cure, and which approach suits you is a question for a doctor or an audiologist.

Why does the octave check matter?

Because a tone one octave away sounds closely related, and listeners choose the wrong octave surprisingly often. Comparing your match with the octave below and above, one after the other, catches the mistake in about twenty seconds.

Should I use speakers instead of headphones?

Headphones are much better here. Speakers reach both ears at once, so a one sided match becomes impossible, and most speakers colour or roll off the high frequencies where tinnitus usually sits. Wired headphones at a low level are the most reliable setup.