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Tinnitus tone generator: how to use one safely to match your tinnitus

Updated October 10, 2026 · 5 minute read

A tone generator plays a sound at whatever frequency you choose. For people with tinnitus, its main use is finding and describing the pitch you hear, so you can tell an audiologist, track changes and set up sounds built around it. Here's how to get an accurate result without hurting your ears.

Sweep, fixed tone or both?

Tool	What it does	Best for
Frequency sweep	A tone that glides slowly from low to high (and back), repeating	Finding the rough area of your tinnitus when you have no idea where it is
Fixed tone	One steady tone you nudge up or down	Fine-tuning once you know the area, 1% at a time
Narrow-band noise	A band of hiss centered on one frequency	Tinnitus that sounds like hissing or rushing rather than a whistle

Most people get the best result by using all three in order: sweep to find the area, fixed tone to fine-tune, and narrow-band noise if a pure tone never quite sounds right.

How to use a tone generator for matching

Use headphones and start silent. Set your device volume low before you press play, then raise it slowly. Phone and laptop speakers often can't play high pitches well, and many people's tinnitus is high.
Pick the ear. If your tinnitus is mostly on one side, play the tone in that ear only.
Sweep slowly. A pass of 30 seconds or more, repeated, lets you mark the moment it sounds like your ringing. A sweep that goes up and back down helps, because people tend to react a little late in whichever direction the tone is moving.
Fine-tune with a fixed tone. Start at your best mark and move in small steps until you can't tell whether up or down is closer.
Check the octave. Compare your match with half and double the frequency. Tones an octave apart sound surprisingly similar, and octave mistakes are the most common error in tinnitus pitch matching.
Match the loudness last. Set the volume so the tone seems about as loud as your tinnitus, not louder.
Repeat on other days. Record a range across several sessions rather than one number.

Safe volume. Test tones should never need to be loud. Keep them at or below the loudness of your tinnitus, and stop if a sound is uncomfortable or your tinnitus gets louder afterward. For everyday listening, the World Health Organization's standard for adults is a weekly limit equal to about 80 dB for 40 hours. Pure tones at high pitches can feel piercing, so take extra care above about 8 kHz.

A tone generator built for tinnitus

Tinnitus Sounds combines a slow up-and-down sweep with marks, a 1% fine-tune matcher, an octave check, left or right ear only, and narrow-band noise. The sweep and matcher are free for 10 minutes a day.

Open the free tone tools →

Online tone generators vs. fitted sound generators

You may also hear about "sound generators" for tinnitus that audiologists fit, sometimes built into hearing aids. Devices sold to treat tinnitus are regulated as medical devices in the US, and they're selected and adjusted by a hearing professional as part of a care plan.

An online tone generator like ours is different. It's a self-help tool for finding and describing the sound you hear, and for playing sounds you find comfortable. It doesn't diagnose or treat tinnitus. If your tinnitus bothers you a lot, an audiologist can talk you through options, including sound therapy, which the US clinical guideline lists as an option.

Common questions

What frequency should I start at?

If you have no idea, sweep from about 250 Hz to 12 kHz. Many people match somewhere in the higher frequencies, but lower-pitched tinnitus exists too.

Sine wave or another shape?

A sine wave is a pure tone with a single pitch, which is what you want for matching a whistle-like sound. Other wave shapes add extra tones (harmonics) that make matching less precise, though some people find a softer triangle wave more comfortable to listen to.

Why does my match change every time?

Tinnitus can vary day to day, and matching an internal sound is hard. That's normal. See how to find your tinnitus frequency for more on getting a reliable range.

Sources

Accuracy of tinnitus pitch matching using a web-based protocol. PubMed 23130542.
Tunkel DE, et al. Clinical practice guideline: tinnitus. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. 2014;151(2 Suppl):S1–S40. doi:10.1177/0194599814545325.
World Health Organization and ITU. Safe listening devices and systems: a WHO-ITU standard. 2019. who.int.

This guide is general information written by the Tinnitus Sounds team. It isn't medical advice. Talk to a doctor or audiologist about your tinnitus.