How to use the tone generator
- Turn your device volume down before you start, especially with headphones.
- Set a frequency. The slider is logarithmic, so each section covers one decade: 20–200 Hz, 200–2,000 Hz and 2–20 kHz.
- Press Play tone, then raise the volume slowly until it's comfortable.
- Use −oct and +oct to halve or double the frequency (one octave), or −1/+1 for 1 Hz steps.
What people use it for
- Speaker and headphone checks: sweep slowly and listen for rattles, buzzing or frequencies that drop out.
- Tuning: 440 Hz is concert A (A4). The readout shows the nearest note and how many cents sharp or flat you are.
- Hearing range: raise the frequency until it disappears to find your upper limit. Use moderate volume.
- Room acoustics: play bass tones between 30 and 120 Hz and walk around. Spots where it booms or vanishes are room modes.
- Science and teaching: hear how pitch relates to frequency and how waveforms change timbre.
Common frequencies
| Frequency | What it is |
|---|---|
| 20 Hz | Lower limit of human hearing; felt more than heard |
| 60 Hz | Deep bass; also mains hum in North America |
| 165 Hz | Water eject tone used to clear phone speakers |
| 440 Hz | A4, the standard tuning pitch |
| 1 kHz | Standard audio test tone |
| 15 kHz+ | Above many adults' hearing range |
Hearing safety
Pure tones are tiring to listen to and high frequencies can be uncomfortable even at modest volume. Keep sessions short, never start at full volume on headphones, and stop if you feel discomfort or ringing. Press Escape to stop instantly.
Want a ready-made test instead? Try the bass test, the left/right sound test or the speaker sweep.
Common questions
What frequencies can people hear?
Roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz for young people. The top end drops with age. Many adults can’t hear much above 14–16 kHz, so silence at very high settings is usually normal, not a fault.
What’s the difference between the waveforms?
A sine wave is a single pure frequency. Square, sawtooth and triangle waves add harmonics (multiples of the base frequency), which makes them sound buzzier and seem louder. Use sine for testing and hearing checks. The others are handy for synth experiments and for checking that a speaker reproduces sharp edges cleanly.
Can I use this to match my tinnitus pitch?
Some people use a tone generator to find roughly where their tinnitus sits, which can be useful to mention to an audiologist. Keep the volume low. This is not a medical test or treatment.
Which frequency gets water out of a speaker?
Low tones around 150–200 Hz move the speaker cone the furthest. The water eject tool plays 165 Hz for 30 seconds and is the simplest option.