Home / Guides / Tinnitus frequency

How to find your tinnitus frequency at home

Updated October 7, 2026 · 7 minute read

If you hear a steady ringing, whistle or hiss, it usually has a pitch you can match with a tone. Knowing that pitch helps you describe your tinnitus to an audiologist, track whether it changes, and set up sounds built around it. Here's how to find it with nothing more than headphones and a web browser.

Before you start

• Use headphones. Most laptop and phone speakers can't play very low or very high pitches well, and many people's tinnitus is high-pitched. Headphones also let you test one ear at a time.
• Find a quiet room. Background noise makes faint tones hard to compare.
• Start with the volume low. You only need the tone to be about as loud as your tinnitus. Turn it up slowly, and stop if any sound is uncomfortable or makes your ringing louder.
• Give it 10 to 15 minutes. Matching takes concentration. If you get tired, stop and come back later. A rested ear gives better results.

Step by step

1. Pick the ear. If your tinnitus is mostly in one ear, play the test sounds in that same ear. Researchers comparing methods recommend matching in the ear where you hear the tinnitus. If it's in both ears or seems to be "in the head", use both.
2. Run a slow, repeating sweep. A frequency sweep is a tone that glides from low to high. Use a slow one, 30 seconds or more per pass, covering roughly 250 Hz to 12,000 Hz, and let it repeat. Each time the tone sounds like your tinnitus, mark it. Our free sweep tool has a Mark button (or press M) and shows each mark on the scale.
3. Look for a cluster. After three to five passes, your marks usually bunch up in one area. Narrow the sweep range around that area and sweep again more slowly.
4. Fine-tune with a steady tone. Switch to a steady tone at your best mark and nudge it up or down 1% at a time. Go back and forth until you can't tell whether a step up or down is closer. In the Match tool, the "Fine-tune" button on any mark loads it for you.
5. Check one octave up and one octave down. This step matters more than any other. See the next section.
6. Match the loudness. With the pitch set, adjust the volume until the tone seems as loud as your tinnitus. Write that down too.
7. Repeat on different days. Tinnitus pitch can vary from day to day, and so can your matches. Three or more matches on different days give a much more reliable picture than one.

The octave mistake almost everyone makes

An octave is a doubling of frequency: 4,000 Hz is one octave above 2,000 Hz and one octave below 8,000 Hz. Tones an octave apart sound strangely similar, even though one is twice the frequency of the other.

Researchers who study tinnitus pitch matching run into this constantly. People often match their tinnitus one or even two octaves away from where it really is, and some match at different octaves depending on whether they start above or below their pitch. One study of a web-based matching method found that several participants made octave errors on their own, and that adding a deliberate octave check corrected them.

The fix is simple: once you have a match, play the tone at half the frequency and at double the frequency, then choose whichever of the three sounds most like your tinnitus. If you matched 3,000 Hz, compare 1,500 Hz, 3,000 Hz and 6,000 Hz.

What your number means

Your result is a frequency in hertz (Hz), usually written in kilohertz (kHz) once it's above 1,000 Hz. 6,000 Hz is 6 kHz.

• High-pitched matches are common. Many people match their tinnitus somewhere in the higher frequencies. In one small study, the middle value was 6 kHz, with matches ranging from 2 kHz to 12 kHz. Lower-pitched tinnitus exists too, so don't worry if yours is different.
• A range is more honest than one number. Studies comparing matching methods found that many people's matches spread over a range, sometimes more than two octaves. If your matches vary, record the range, such as "5.5 to 6.5 kHz".
• It's useful information to share. An audiologist can compare your tinnitus pitch with a hearing test. Tinnitus often sits near frequencies where hearing has dropped, which is one reason a hearing evaluation is worth getting.

Your pitch is a description, not a diagnosis. It doesn't tell you what caused your tinnitus or how it will change.

If your tinnitus isn't a pure tone

Not all tinnitus sounds like a whistle. If yours sounds more like hissing, rushing, buzzing or crickets, a pure tone may never quite match. Try these instead:

• Narrow-band noise: a band of hiss centered on a frequency. It often matches "hissy" tinnitus better than a tone does. Adjust the center frequency the same way you would a tone.
• Broadband hiss: for tinnitus that sounds like steam or static across many pitches.
• Several sounds: some people hear more than one sound. Match the loudest or most bothersome one first.

Common questions

Is an online tinnitus frequency test accurate?

It can be a useful estimate, especially if you use headphones, check the octave and repeat on different days. It isn't a substitute for testing by an audiologist with calibrated equipment.

Why does my match change from day to day?

Tinnitus itself can change with sleep, stress, noise exposure and other factors, and matching a sound you hear internally is hard. Variation of several percent is normal. That's why a range across several sessions is more reliable.

Can a loud tone make my tinnitus worse?

Loud sound can be harmful to your hearing, and some people notice their tinnitus is louder for a while after loud sounds. Keep test tones quiet, no louder than your tinnitus, and stop if anything feels uncomfortable.

What can I do once I know my frequency?

Share it with your audiologist, track it over time, and try sounds that are tuned to it, such as notched noise or CR tones. Read those guides for an honest look at what the research found.