How to use it
- Find your pitch with the tinnitus frequency matcher and press "Build a masker at this frequency". Or set the slider here by ear.
- Start with pink or brown noise and the 1-octave notch, the width used in the original study.
- Turn the volume up from zero until the ringing is softened but you can still faintly hear it. That is partial masking, the level Tinnitus UK recommends for most of the time.
- Try band-limited mode and the other base sounds; keep whichever you find easiest to listen to.
- For sleep, set the timer, or download a 60-minute file and loop it in a music app.
Masking, partial masking and notched sound
Masking means playing a sound that covers the tinnitus. Broadband noise does this well because it has energy at every frequency, including your tinnitus pitch. Full masking brings quick relief, but Tinnitus UK notes it does nothing for long-term habituation and can make tinnitus seem louder when the sound stops.
Partial masking sets the sound a little quieter than the tinnitus, so the two blend. The ringing is still there but becomes less sharp and less noticeable. This is what most sound-therapy programmes aim for.
Notched sound works the other way round: it removes the frequencies around your tinnitus pitch and leaves everything else. The theory (lateral inhibition) is that sound on either side of the notch may calm the over-active nerve cells tuned to your tinnitus frequency. Because the notch takes out exactly the part that would cover the ringing, notched noise masks less than plain noise does.
Band-limited noise keeps only the band around your pitch. It puts all of its energy where the ringing is, so it can cover a tonal tinnitus at a lower overall volume than broadband noise.
What the evidence says
The notched-sound idea comes from a 2010 study in PNAS. Eight people with tonal tinnitus listened to their own music with a one-octave notch at their tinnitus pitch for a year and rated their tinnitus as quieter. A placebo group of eight did not. It was a small study.
Larger trials have not confirmed it. A double-blind trial of 100 people (2 hours a day for 3 months) found no effect on its main outcomes; a drop in tinnitus loudness showed up only at the one-month follow-up. A 2021 trial of 104 people found no significant difference between notched and ordinary music.
For sound therapy in general, a 2018 Cochrane review of 8 trials (590 people) found no evidence that sound generators or hearing aids beat placebo, education or a waiting list, and rated the evidence as low quality. Many people still find a background sound makes tinnitus easier to live with day to day, especially in quiet rooms and at bedtime.
In short: this page cannot cure tinnitus, and nobody can promise that notched noise will make it quieter. It is a free, low-risk way to find a sound you can live with, at a sensible volume.
How the notch is built
The notch is a chain of 2 to 4 biquad filters: one true notch filter at your frequency for a very deep centre, plus 1 to 3 cuts of 30 dB spread across the band to widen it. The live player and the download use exactly the same filter coefficients, and every setting is levelled to the same loudness, so switching sounds does not make the volume jump.
Measured on rendered files, the 1-octave notch is about 34 dB down averaged across the band and about 50 dB down at its centre. The 1/2-octave notch is about 30 dB down across the band, and the 1/3-octave notch about 20 dB. Filters this small cannot cut a perfectly sharp edge, so the attenuation fades in just outside each edge. The spectrum in the player is calculated from the same sound you hear.
Red flags - see a doctor promptly
- • Tinnitus in one ear only
- • Pulsatile tinnitus (beats with your heartbeat)
- • Sudden onset, or sudden change in hearing
- • Accompanied by dizziness or vertigo
- • Following a head or neck injury
- • With ear pain, discharge, or a feeling of fullness
These can indicate treatable or serious conditions. Even without red flags, tinnitus that lasts more than a couple of weeks is worth a hearing check. More in the tinnitus relief guide.
Sources & further reading
- Listening to tailor-made notched music reduces tinnitus loudness and tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity (Okamoto et al., 2010) — PNAS
- Clinical trial on tonal tinnitus with tailor-made notched music training (Stein et al., 2016) — BMC Neurology
- A randomized, controlled trial of notched music therapy for tinnitus patients (Therdphaothai et al., 2021) — Journal of International Advanced Otology
- Sound therapy (using amplification devices or sound generators) for tinnitus (Sereda et al., 2018) — Cochrane
- Sound therapy — Tinnitus UK