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Tinnitus frequency matching: find the Hz of your tinnitus tone

By TechCompare · Updated · How we check

Sweep a sine tone near 8 kHz up or down until it matches the pitch in your head. Most tinnitus falls between 4 and 12 kHz. Write the matched frequency down for your audiologist.

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Frequency Generator

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8 kHz sine
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Tinnitus frequency matching is the practice of finding a pure tone that sounds the same pitch as your tinnitus. Knowing your tinnitus frequency helps an audiologist tune a sound therapy or hearing aid, and it gives you a concrete number to track over time. The method is simple: dial a sine tone up and down until it matches the pitch in your head.

Oscillators
1
Single tone
Frequencies
8 kHz
Waveform
Sine
Per-oscillator lanes

How this is calculated

Tinnitus is a phantom sound generated by the auditory system, usually a pure-ish tone or a narrow band of noise. Most tonal tinnitus falls between 4 kHz and 12 kHz, but it varies widely.

To match yours, start at 8 kHz and adjust the frequency in small steps until the tone blends with your tinnitus. If the pitch feels lower, sweep down toward 4 kHz. If higher, sweep up toward 12 kHz. Once you've matched, write the number down.

Two practical notes: tinnitus often changes in pitch day to day, so match a few times before drawing conclusions. And matching is the start of the work, not the cure. A matched tone is useful for masking therapy and for clinicians, but listening to it for long periods can temporarily aggravate the tinnitus for some people.

Verdict

Match on a quiet day, repeat over a few sessions, and bring the number to a hearing care professional. Matching is a first step, not a treatment, and tinnitus pitch can drift between sessions.

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Related guides

Hearing test tone
A high-cutoff baseline to compare against your matched tinnitus tone.
View guide
17 kHz mosquito ringtone
A high-frequency tone useful for tinnitus-frequency diagnostics.
View guide

Frequently asked questions

What frequency is tinnitus usually at?
Most tonal tinnitus pitches fall between 4 kHz and 12 kHz, with the largest cluster around 6 to 8 kHz. But it varies widely: some people experience tinnitus as low as 500 Hz or as high as 16 kHz, and noise-like tinnitus has no single pitch to match.
Is matching my tinnitus frequency a treatment?
No. Matching is a diagnostic step that helps clinicians tune sound therapy, hearing aids, or acoustic CR neuromodulation. Listening to your matched tone for long stretches can temporarily increase tinnitus awareness for some people. Treat the match as information, not therapy.
Why does my tinnitus pitch change day to day?
Tinnitus pitch commonly fluctuates based on stress, sleep, loud-noise exposure, caffeine, and jaw tension. Match on several different days and average the results to get a stable target for clinical use.

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