Tone Generator
Play a pure tone at any frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
440Hz
Start at a low volume. Sustained tones are harder on drivers and on your ears than music at the same setting, and very low or very high frequencies are easy to underestimate.
Your test runs locally in your browser. No device data is uploaded.
How to use the tone generator
Drag the slider to a frequency, or pick a preset, and press play. Start with the volume low and raise it gradually. The slider is logarithmic rather than linear, because pitch is perceived logarithmically and a linear control would spend most of its travel in the range almost nobody can hear.
What you can use it for
Finding the real low-frequency limit of a speaker or a subwoofer, by sweeping down until the tone stops being audible or turns into a rattle. Locating a resonance in a room, a desk or a car door, by sweeping slowly and listening for the frequency that makes something buzz. Roughly checking the top of your hearing range, since sensitivity above about 12 kHz declines steadily with age.
It is also useful as a reference: 440 Hz is concert A, and 1 kHz is the standard tone equipment is specified against.
Limits worth knowing
What you hear is limited by your hardware before it is limited by your ears. Nearly all laptop and phone speakers produce almost nothing below 100 Hz, so silence at 40 Hz usually says more about the speaker than the recording chain.
This generates a mathematically pure sine wave, which is harsher and carries more sustained energy than music at the same volume. It is not a hearing test in any clinical sense, and it is not a substitute for an audiogram.
Frequently asked questions
- What can I use a tone generator for?
- Finding the range your speakers or headphones actually reproduce, checking how low a subwoofer goes, locating a rattle or resonance in a room or a car, and roughly checking the top end of your own hearing.
- Why can I not hear the lowest frequencies?
- Most speakers, and nearly all laptop and phone speakers, cannot reproduce below about 100 Hz at any useful volume. Below roughly 40 Hz you feel the sound more than hear it, and that needs a subwoofer or full-size headphones.
- What is a safe volume?
- Start low and raise gradually, especially with headphones. A sustained pure tone carries far more energy than music at the same setting, so it is both louder to your ears and harder on small drivers.
- Can I use this to test my hearing?
- Only very roughly. It tells you whether you perceive a frequency at the volume your device produces, which depends on your hardware as much as your ears. It is not a substitute for an audiogram from an audiologist.