How tinnitus pitch matching works

The method behind Find your frequency. Last updated 13 November 2026.

A pitch match asks one question: which external sound is closest in pitch to the sound you hear?

What a pitch match is, and isn't

A pitch match is a comparison. You listen to test sounds and judge which one is most like your own sound. The result is a frequency in hertz, with a range around it.

It is not a hearing test. The tool checks how quiet a sound you can hear only so it can set fair levels. It does not produce an audiogram or say anything about your hearing.

It is not a diagnosis either. It cannot tell you why you hear a sound. Before the match starts, a short safety check asks about sudden hearing loss, pulsing sounds, one-sided sounds, dizziness and ear pain, and points you to a doctor if any apply.

Why levels matter

Most people hear high pitches less well than middle ones. If every test sound plays at the same volume, the high ones seem fainter, and a fainter sound can be judged as less like yours even when its pitch is right. Loudness ends up masquerading as pitch.

So the tool runs a level check first. At nine frequencies from 1 kHz to 14 kHz, a sound starts silent and rises at a steady rate until you tap. That tap marks roughly where you can just hear it.

Every test sound after that plays a fixed step, 14 dB, above your level at its frequency. The aim is that every sound is about equally easy to hear, so the only thing left to judge is pitch.

Each sound also has a hard volume cap. The cap is highest up to 4 kHz and eases lower above that, reaching its lowest from 8 kHz up. Nothing plays above 14 kHz. If the first sounds are heard almost instantly, the tool asks you to turn your device down and starts the check again.

The level check also finds where your hearing or headphones stop. If you can't hear the higher sounds, the match stays below the highest one you heard.

The octave mix-up

Two sounds an octave apart, one at twice the frequency of the other, share a lot of their character. Research on pitch matching finds that people often land exactly one octave off.

After the first round of narrowing, the tool plays your current match alongside the sounds an octave above and below it, in random order, and asks which is closest. If you pick a different octave, the match moves there and a few more rounds of narrowing follow.

To hear the octave effect for yourself, hear single tones and compare each with the pitches an octave above and below.

Two independent matches

The first match is guided. You rate about ten sounds spread across the range as not like it, a bit, or close. The tool starts from the ones you rated closest.

Then it narrows by forced choice. You hear two sounds, one a little below the current estimate and one a little above, in random order, and pick the closer one. The gap shrinks each round, from half an octave to about a tenth of one. You can also answer that you can't tell.

The second match is by hand. A slider covers the full range on a log scale, and it starts somewhere new on purpose, well above or below your first match. It uses a pure tone by default. Because it covers the whole range and starts away from the first answer, it is a separate check rather than a repeat.

Your result is the midpoint of the two matches on a log scale. How far apart they landed sets the label: within two semitones is "Consistent today", within half an octave is "Somewhat consistent today", and further apart is "Inconsistent today". A close pair drops to "Somewhat consistent" if the octave check moved your match or several caveats apply.

Why you get a range, not a number

Research on pitch matching finds that matches vary between sessions, even for the same person. The tool assumes about half an octave of day-to-day variation is normal.

So the likely range runs at least half an octave either side of your match, and wider if your two matches were further apart. A single figure to the nearest hertz would claim more precision than the method has.

Match again on another day and the page averages your matches. When the day-by-day averages agree to within a third of an octave, it says "Confirmed over N days". Until then it says "Not yet confirmed".

Tones vs noise bands

Some people hear a clear tone or whistle. Others hear something closer to a hiss, static or buzz, which has no single pitch.

The guided steps use narrow bands of noise centered on each test frequency. If you describe a tone, the bands are narrow and close to tonal. If you describe a hiss or several sounds, they are wider. Each band is adjusted to the same level so wider bands don't sound louder.

The hand match uses a pure tone by default, with a switch to a soft noise band if that is closer to your sound. If your sound is a hiss or several sounds, the result says a single pitch can't fully describe it.

Privacy

The whole match runs in your browser. Every sound is generated on your device with the Web Audio API. The tool sends nothing anywhere: no answers, no levels, no results.

Your last 20 results are kept in your browser's local storage so the page can average them across days. Clearing your site data removes them. Copying or emailing your result only happens when you choose to.

Try it

Find your frequency takes about four minutes. Headphones help.

If you want to use the number, Notched is a Mac app that can filter a one-octave band at your pitch out of what your Mac plays.