Sound Tools

Tinnitus Simulator

Tinnitus isn't one sound — it ranges from pure ringing to cicadas, hissing, humming, and roaring. Drag the dial to blend between common tinnitus sounds, and let someone else hear what it can be like.

Start quiet, especially with headphones — loud sounds can temporarily aggravate tinnitus. Illustrative only: everyone's tinnitus is different. Not a hearing test, not a medical device.

Volume

This dial paints in broad strokes. For a precise match of your own pitch and texture — continuously from 200 Hz to 16 kHz, saved as a profile your sound tools can use — try the frequency finder in the free Tinnitus Toolkit app.

What tinnitus can sound like

The dial blends eight sound characters reported by people with tinnitus. One side of the circle is tonal — steady ringing and electrical hum. The opposite side is noise-like — hissing and static. Between them sit textures often described in nature terms: cicadas, crickets, wind, and an ocean-like roar. Real tinnitus can sit anywhere in between, can involve more than one sound, and can change from day to day.

Hear your own tinnitus precisely

This simulator paints in broad strokes. The free Tinnitus Toolkit app for Android includes a frequency finder that matches your exact pitch and texture with a continuous slider, saves it as your tinnitus sound profile, and uses it to personalise research-based sound tools — notched sound, flanking bands, and more. Offline, no account, no data collection.

Get Tinnitus Toolkit on Google Play

Frequently Asked Questions

About simulating tinnitus.

Is this what tinnitus really sounds like?
It's an approximation of commonly reported sound characters. Real tinnitus varies enormously between people — in pitch, texture, loudness, and whether it's one sound or several — and often fluctuates over time.
Can I use this to show my family what I hear?
Yes — that's what it's for. Blend towards the character closest to your tinnitus and let them listen. For a more faithful reproduction of your specific pitch and texture, use the frequency finder in the Tinnitus Toolkit app.
What does the frequency estimate mean?
It's the approximate dominant pitch region of your current blend — a rough character estimate, not a measurement of your tinnitus. Matching your actual tinnitus frequency requires listening and adjusting against it, which the app's frequency finder is built for.
Can listening to these sounds harm me?
At quiet volumes, no. Keep the level comfortable — loud playback, particularly over headphones, can temporarily aggravate tinnitus or damage hearing.