Online Tone Generator – Play Any Frequency, 1 Hz to 20 kHz
Overview
Online Tone Generator. Dial in an exact tone with the Tone Generator — pick a waveform (sine, square, sawtooth, or triangle), drag the frequency slider anywhere from 20Hz to 20kHz or tap a note preset, then hit Play Tone to hear it and watch it move across the live spectrum and waveform graphs. Worried about noise exposure? The decibel meter online tracks how loud a room gets and flags levels linked to hearing damage.
Need a quick online tone generator to check your speakers, pin down hearing loss at one pitch, or show a class some basic audio principles? Type any value from 1 to 20,000 Hz, press play, and you get a pure tone: a clean sine wave at exactly that pitch, or a buzzier shape the moment you switch waveforms.
How to Use This Online Tone Generator
It runs on the Web Audio API, so nothing installs; the tone starts once your browser allows playback.
- Start at low volume, then press the play button.
- Choose a pitch in hertz and a wave shape.
- Press the stop button when you're finished.
Setting the Frequency, Volume and Octave
Drag the slider for big jumps, then nudge the value with the arrow keys for single-hertz steps. A good habit: find the level where 1,000 Hz plays without discomfort and don't stray far above it. To move by musical steps, the generator follows one rule:
$$f_{new} = f \times 2^{n/12}$$
Here n is the number of semitones you move. Say you set 1,250 Hz. One octave down (n = −12) gives 625 Hz, twelve steps up gives 2,500 Hz, and three semitones up lands on 1,486.5 Hz. Each cycle at 1,250 Hz lasts \(T = \frac{1}{f} = 0.8\) ms. Your settings sit in a shareable link, so the same tone generator online setup opens on any device.
Sine Wave, Square Wave and Sawtooth Wave in a Hz Generator
Shape changes how a tone sounds at a fixed pitch, a quick lesson in wave properties and how sound waves are built. Curious whether you sing as a soprano, alto, tenor or baritone? The vocal range test places your range on a keyboard chart.
Pure Tone or a Waveform Full of Harmonics
A sine carries only its fundamental. Every other waveform adds harmonics, whole-number multiples of the base pitch, which an oscilloscope view shows as sharp corners or ramps. Output is sampled at 44.1kHz, the CD audio standard.
| Shape | Overtones present | Level of overtone n | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sine | None | — | Smooth, flute-like |
| Square wave | Odd only (3, 5, 7…) | 1/n | Hollow, buzzy |
| Triangle | Odd only | 1/n² | Soft, close to a sine |
| Sawtooth wave | All (2, 3, 4…) | 1/n | Bright, brassy |
| Impulse | All, equal level | 1 | Sharp click |
Stereo, White Noise and Sweep Options in Tone Generator Software
Stereo mode lets you pan each channel left or right and set the balance for spatial checks, or send dual tones to each ear to create binaural beats; mono keeps both sides identical. A log or linear sweep glides through a whole range, white noise and pink noise fill every band at once, and you can save the result as a WAV file, usually capped at about 22kHz by your sound card.
Matching a Ringing Ear at 6,330 Hz With the Hertz Generator
The goal tonight is simple: name the pitch of a right-ear ring precisely enough to build a notched masking playlist, then decide whether it's worth an audiologist visit. The answer comes out at 6,330 Hz, and that number is what drives everything that follows. Check WAV, FLAC or MP3 files with the online sample rate and bit depth checker and see whether the 44.1 kHz label matches the content inside.
Wired over-ear headphones go on (laptop drivers roll off too early to trust above 5 kHz), the left channel is muted, and the level is set where a 1 kHz tone is barely comfortable. I start at 4,000 Hz, slide upward in coarse steps until the tone sits "near" the ring around 6,000 Hz, then switch to single-hertz arrow presses. Three separate passes land at 6,310, 6,350 and 6,330 Hz, so the match is the middle value.
Next comes the check people skip: an octave mix-up. I play half (3,165 Hz) and double (12,660 Hz). The half sounds clearly lower; the double is faint and thin, nothing like the ring. So 6,330 Hz stands. One cycle at that pitch lasts about 0.158 ms, which is a reminder of how small the margins are up here.
Notched masking removes a one-octave band centred on the tinnitus pitch, so the notch edges are the matched pitch divided and multiplied by √2: 4,476 Hz to 8,952 Hz. I play both edges in the generator to hear where the notch starts and ends, then check what a one-semitone matching error would do:
| Matched pitch | Notch low edge | Notch high edge |
|---|---|---|
| 5,974.7 Hz (one semitone flat) | 4,224.8 Hz | 8,449.5 Hz |
| 6,330 Hz (my match) | 4,476 Hz | 8,952 Hz |
| 6,706.4 Hz (one semitone sharp) | 4,742.1 Hz | 9,484.3 Hz |
The edges shift by roughly 250 to 530 Hz, which is small next to an octave-wide notch, so the frequency matching result is good enough for a playlist. The bigger caveat: the generator gives an exact pitch, but it can't measure how much hearing is lost there, and 6,330 Hz falls between the standard audiogram points of 6,000 and 8,000 Hz. So the next step is an audiogram covering both, with the 6,330 Hz match in hand. If the ring changes pitch from day to day, I'd redo three passes before trusting any single number.
What an Online Frequency Generator Is Used For
Beyond science experiments like finding the resonant frequency of a wine glass, a hertz generator helps wherever you need one known pitch. Resonance in a room or object shows up as a sudden swell in loudness.
Hearing Test and Tinnitus Frequency Matching
Play single tones across the range for a rough hearing test, one ear at a time. If you have tonal tinnitus, frequency matching helps you name its pitch so masking sounds and frequency discrimination training can target it. Check double and half your match too, since tones a doubling apart are easy to confuse. The generator will also play 432Hz, solfeggio healing frequencies or a steady 40 Hz tone if you want to try them for sound therapy or meditation; treat that as an experiment, not medical care.
Test Tones for Speakers, Subwoofer and Audio Equipment
Engineers use test tones for calibration of amplifiers and mixers, radio audio level alignment, acoustics work and room equalization. Drop to a low tone to find where your subwoofer gives out, or listen for rattles in headphones. In music, musicians lean on reference tones (440 Hz is concert A) for tuning instruments and for ear training with intervals, while audio engineers run a frequency tone generator through every link of their audio equipment chain.
Hearing Range and Safe Volume With an Online Sound Generator
Your hearing range runs from roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz at birth, and the top end falls with age. Sub-bass sits at the bottom, treble at the top. If a high frequency or a very deep tone goes silent, either your ears or the playback device may be the limit; a sound frequency generator can't tell which, so retest on other drivers. Sound frequencies between about 2,000 and 5,000 Hz seem loudest at the same setting, so turn down before you move into that band. Keep the tone generator quiet, sessions short, and stop if anything hurts.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What frequency range can a tone generator play?
- This one accepts 1 Hz to 22,000 Hz. Most adults hear roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, and the top end drops with age, so very low and very high tones may be silent even when they are playing. Your speakers or sound card can also cut off the extremes.
- Is it safe to play high frequencies?
- Keep the volume low. Turning the level up because you can't hear a very low or very high tone can harm your hearing and your speakers. Set a level where a 1,000 Hz tone is comfortable and stay near it; stop if you feel discomfort.
- What are the different waveforms for?
- A sine wave is a pure tone with no harmonics, good for hearing checks and tinnitus matching. Square, sawtooth and triangle waves add harmonics, which makes them sound buzzier or brighter and useful for testing speakers or demonstrating wave properties.
- Can I use a tone generator to tune an instrument?
- Yes. Play a reference tone such as 440 Hz (concert A) and tune until the beating between the instrument and the tone disappears. The nearest-note and cents readout shows how far a frequency sits from the closest musical note.
- How do I find my tinnitus frequency?
- Use a sine wave at low volume, move the frequency until it matches the ringing, then check half and double that value, because tones an octave apart are easy to confuse. Repeat the match a few times and take the middle value.
- Why can't I hear anything?
- Check that your browser allows sound and the volume isn't at 0%. Very low tones (under about 50 Hz) need headphones or a subwoofer, and very high tones may be above your hearing range or beyond what small speakers can reproduce.