Interactive Tinnitus Pitch Matcher & Notch Therapy Lab
Sweep the frequency slider between 250 Hz and 14,000 Hz at low volume (20–25%) to match your ringing pitch, verify one octave up/down, and launch 1-octave notched pink noise therapy.
1. Select Probe Waveform
2. Select Acoustic Therapy Mode
1-octave notch filter centered at 4000 Hz (2828–5657 Hz removed from pink noise).
Why tinnitus feels twice as loud the moment your head hits the pillow
Your tinnitus rarely gets physically louder at 11 p.m.—what changes is the room around you. During the day, everyday sounds (keyboards, traffic, voices, air conditioning) sit at roughly 45 to 60 dB and keep your auditory system busy. When you turn the lights off in a quiet 25 dB bedroom, two things happen at once: external masking disappears, and your brain's auditory pathways automatically turn up their central sensitivity (central gain) to listen into the silence.
Add evening tiredness and the worry of "how am I going to sleep with this noise tonight?", and your nervous system shifts into alert monitoring mode. Bedtime sound therapy breaks that loop—not by drowning your ringing out with loud static, but by raising the acoustic floor of the bedroom just enough that the ringing stops standing out like a neon sign in a dark room.
The golden rule for night-time tinnitus: aim for the "mixing point"
A common mistake is cranking white noise up until you can't hear your tinnitus at all. That feels like a relief for five minutes, but loud noise all night fatigues your ears and often leaves your ringing feeling sharper the next morning. Audiologists who practise Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (Jastreboff's neurophysiological model) recommend setting your bedside sound to the mixing point—a quiet level where the external sound and your tinnitus blend together so neither dominates, and your brain can gradually stop paying attention to both.
Four tested mindspeace bedtime mixes (by tinnitus type)
Every ear prefers a slightly different spectrum at night. Open the Sounds panel and try these slider combinations on a small bedside speaker:
| What Your Tinnitus Sounds Like | Recommended Sounds Panel Mix | Why It Works at Night |
|---|---|---|
| High whistle or steady ring (4–8 kHz) | Rain (50%) + Pink Noise (25%) (this page's default) | Raindrop patter adds organic movement in the upper mids while pink noise fills the gaps between drops so silence never returns. |
| Cicadas, crickets or high hiss | Night Crickets (40%) + Forest Stream (35%) + Pink Noise (15%) | Instead of fighting a cricket-like sound, real night insects give your brain a plausible external source to blend the ringing into. |
| Sharp, piercing whine above 8 kHz | Rain (45%) + White Noise (15%) + Brown Noise (25%) | A small touch of white noise reaches the high frequencies where pure brown noise has almost no energy, while brown noise keeps the mix warm. |
| Low hum or ear fullness | Ocean Waves (55%) + Deep Brown (25%) | Slow rolling surf paces your breathing to around 6 breaths per minute and covers low-frequency room rumble. |
Want to tune the sound to your exact hertz number first? Run our 2-minute tinnitus frequency test and try the half-octave Masking mode in tinnitus sound therapy.
Bedside speaker vs. sleep headphones: what's safest overnight?
- A speaker across the room is best for all-night playback. Putting your phone or a small Bluetooth speaker on a dresser a metre or two from the bed lets sound fill the room softly without sealing your ear canals for eight hours.
- If you share a bed and need headphones, use a soft headband style—and set an automatic stop. Ordinary in-ear buds press into the ear canal when you roll onto your side and can trap moisture or irritate the skin. If you wear a flat fabric sleep headband, open the Sessions panel and start Sleep Descent: it glides gently from 10 Hz down to 1.5 Hz delta waves over 45 minutes and then fades out completely so your ears rest in quiet once you are asleep.
- Dim the screen. Switch to the Winter Cabin or Firefly Forest scene, pull the dim slider up, or turn your phone face down so blue light doesn't delay melatonin release.
A note on lasting relief: Sound makes the bedroom more comfortable tonight, while Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for tinnitus (CBT) and CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) have the strongest clinical evidence for reducing how much tinnitus bothers your sleep long term. Speak with your GP or audiologist if tinnitus is regularly costing you sleep.
Frequently asked questions
Is pink noise or white noise better for sleeping with tinnitus?
Most people find pink noise or rain much more comfortable for an eight-hour night because its high frequencies roll off by 3 dB per octave. If your tinnitus is very high-pitched (above 7,000 Hz), mixing a small amount of white noise (10–15%) under rain or pink noise gives extra high-frequency coverage without harshness.
Should I leave tinnitus masking sounds on all night?
A quiet sound played from a speaker across the room is safe to leave running all night, and it helps if you wake up at 3 a.m. If you use headphones or a sleep headband, use the 45-minute Sleep Descent session so the audio stops after you fall asleep.
Can notched noise be used while sleeping?
Notched noise is usually recommended for 1 to 2 hours of daytime or evening listening rather than 8 hours overnight. For sleep itself, soft rain, ocean waves or pink noise is gentler and more relaxing.
Why does my tinnitus spike after a bad night's sleep?
Poor sleep heightens central nervous system arousal and stress hormones, which makes your brain monitor internal signals more closely the next day. Protecting your sleep with a calm bedtime routine often softens that cycle.