What a tinnitus frequency actually is
Most tonal tinnitus has a pitch, and a pitch can be written as a number of hertz. Matching it means playing a pure tone and moving it until it sits at the same place as the sound you already hear. That is the whole of what this page does — it is the same pitch-matching an audiologist performs, with your headphones instead of a calibrated audiometer.
Most tonal tinnitus matches somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 Hz, which is why the test starts near there. It can fall anywhere, and it does not have to line up with any hearing loss you may have.
How accurate is a browser test?
It gives you a usable number, not a clinical measurement. Your headphones, your phone's output stage and the room all colour the result, and pitch matching drifts between sessions even in a sound booth — people commonly match an octave out, because a tone an octave away can feel like the same note. If a match feels close but slightly wrong, try halving or doubling it before nudging by single percent.
The number is a starting point for setting up masking, and nothing more than that.
Notched sound therapy, and what the research actually says
The idea: play masking sound with a narrow band removed around your tinnitus frequency, instead of covering it over. The reasoning is that neighbouring frequencies keep getting stimulated while the tinnitus band is left quiet, and that the surrounding neurons then inhibit the over-active ones coding the tinnitus pitch. That is a hypothesis about brain plasticity, not an established mechanism.
2010, where this comes from. Okamoto and colleagues had people listen to their own favourite music with a notch cut at their tinnitus frequency. After twelve months, that group reported significantly quieter tinnitus than a placebo group, and showed reduced evoked activity in the auditory cortex region corresponding to their tinnitus frequency. That is a real result and it is why the approach exists.
2016, the larger trial. The same group ran a randomised, double-blind, CONSORT-compliant trial with 100 people over three months. Its own abstract reports: “While no effect was found for the primary outcome measures…” — the tinnitus handicap questionnaire and the visual analogue scales it had been designed to test. At the one-month follow-up, tinnitus loudness in the notched-music group was significantly lower than in controls, and a post-hoc reanalysis found a significant improvement on the overall visual-analogue mean. So: the pre-registered outcome missed, with positive signals in secondary and post-hoc measures.
2018, the wider view. A Cochrane review of sound therapy generally — hearing aids and sound generators, not notching specifically — found eight trials covering 590 people and concluded there was no evidence that sound therapy is superior to a waiting list, a placebo, or simply being given information. It is worth being precise about what that means: it is a statement about the quality and design of the trials, not proof that sound does nothing.
What we take from that. The notch is a reasonable bet with an honest mechanism behind it and an evidence base that is thin and inconsistent. It is a setting in Sylence, not the product, and you can switch it off. The part least in dispute is duller and more useful: masking sound helps a lot of people get to sleep, and sleeping better makes tinnitus easier to live with. If the notch does more than that for you, good — but nobody should sell it to you as settled.
Okamoto H, Stracke H, Stoll W, Pantev C. Listening to tailor-made notched music reduces tinnitus loudness and tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity. PNAS 2010;107(3):1207–10. PMID 20080545
Stein A, Wunderlich R, Lau P, et al. Clinical trial on tonal tinnitus with tailor-made notched music training. BMC Neurology 2016;16:38. PMID 26987755
Sereda M, Xia J, El Refaie A, Hall DA, Hoare DJ. Sound therapy (using amplification devices and/or sound generators) for tinnitus. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 12: CD013094. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013094.pub2
Longer version, with the mechanism drawn out: notched sound therapy.
Nothing here leaves your device
The tones are generated in your browser with the Web Audio API. Your frequency is not uploaded, not stored on a server and not emailed to anyone. There is no analytics script, no advertising and no cookie banner, because there are no cookies to consent to. The fonts are served from this domain rather than from Google.
When to see someone instead
Tinnitus that is sudden, new, in one ear only, pulsing in time with your heartbeat, or arriving alongside hearing loss or dizziness should be looked at by a doctor or an audiologist. This page cannot assess any of that and does not try to. Sylence is a Health & Fitness app for masking and habituation support — it is not a medical device and it does not diagnose anything.
Questions people actually ask
What is a tinnitus frequency?
Most tonal tinnitus has a pitch, and a pitch can be written as a number of hertz. Matching it means playing a pure tone and moving it until it sits at the same place as the sound you already hear. Most tonal tinnitus matches between 4,000 and 8,000 Hz, though it can fall anywhere.
Can Sylence cure tinnitus?
No. Nothing on this page or in the app cures tinnitus, and you should be wary of anything that says otherwise. Sylence is a masking and habituation-support tool: it plays sound shaped around your frequency so the ringing is easier to live with, particularly at night. It is a Health & Fitness app, not a medical device, and it does not diagnose or treat anything.
Is this tinnitus frequency test accurate?
It gives a usable number, not a clinical measurement. Your headphones, your phone's output and the room all colour the result, and pitch matching drifts between sessions even in a sound booth. People commonly match an octave out, because a tone an octave away can feel like the same note — if a match feels close but slightly wrong, try halving or doubling it before nudging by single percent.
Do I need headphones?
They help and they are recommended, but they are not required. What matters more is a quiet room and a low volume. Use both ears rather than one earbud, since tinnitus often differs between sides and a single earpiece will bias the match.
What is notched sound therapy?
It plays masking sound with a narrow band removed around your tinnitus frequency, instead of covering it over. The reasoning is that neighbouring frequencies keep getting stimulated while the tinnitus band is left quiet. The evidence is genuinely mixed — some trials report a benefit over months, others find no difference against plain masking, and the studies are typically small.
Why does the noise on this page stop after a minute?
Because a tab is a demo and a phone is a bedside device. The minute is there so you can hear the difference between plain and notched noise at your own frequency — that is all a page can honestly do. Masking that helps runs for hours with the screen off, at a level set separately per ear, layered under whatever else you are listening to, and it does not die when the browser decides to sleep the tab. That is the app. The pitch test itself is not limited: match it as often as you like, and nothing about it is stored.
What if none of the tones match my tinnitus?
That is common and it is a valid result, not a failed test. A lot of tinnitus is a hiss, a rush, crickets, several sounds at once, or something that shifts, and a pure tone has nothing to lock onto. Masking still works without a matched pitch — the notch is an option, not a requirement.
Does it work if I only have tinnitus in one ear?
Yes. The app matches and sets a level for each ear separately, because tinnitus rarely matches on both sides. Worth knowing, though: tinnitus in one ear only — especially if it is new or sudden — is the case audiologists most want to see, so get it looked at as well as masked.
Can I use it while I sleep?
That is what it is built for. It plays all night with the screen off — there is no cut-off unless you set one — or you can stop it on a 30-minute, 1-hour or 2-hour timer, which fades out over its last minute instead of ending abruptly. It layers underneath a podcast or a sleep story rather than replacing it. If it stops during the night, that is Android's battery saver rather than the app — the fix is on the support page.
Is it safe to use every day?
Sound played quietly is not the risky part; volume is. The guidance in the app is to keep masking just under your tinnitus rather than over it, and the synthesis is built with fixed headroom so it cannot be driven to a damaging level from inside the app. Your phone's own volume is still yours to get wrong, so keep it low. If sound is painful rather than merely irritating, that can be hyperacusis and is worth raising with an audiologist.
Does the test send my results anywhere?
No. The tones are generated in your browser with the Web Audio API. Your frequency is not uploaded, not stored on a server and not emailed. There is no analytics script, no advertising and no cookie banner, because there are no cookies to consent to. Even the fonts are served from this domain rather than from Google.
Is Sylence a tinnitus app for Android?
Yes. Sylence is a free tinnitus app for Android on Google Play. It runs the same pitch match as this page, then plays masking sound shaped around your frequency all night, under other apps and with the screen off. There is no iPhone version yet; one tap here says you would use one.