Online tone generator
Play a steady test tone at any frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, in one ear or both, with nothing to install.
Last reviewed on November 1, 2026
Play a steady test tone at any frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, in one ear or both, with nothing to install.
Last reviewed on November 1, 2026
This tone generator synthesises sound directly in your browser using the Web Audio API. It plays one continuous tone until you stop it, which makes it different from our speaker test, where each tone is a short fixed burst. Use it when you need to hold a specific frequency for as long as a job takes.
Start quietly. A steady tone sounds louder and is more tiring than music at the same level. Lower your system volume before pressing play, and take extra care with headphones.
To share a setting, add the frequency to the address: for example, /tone-generator?f=1000 opens the page at 1 kHz.
| Waveform | Sound | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Sine | Pure and smooth, one frequency only | Almost all testing. If you are unsure, use this. |
| Triangle | Soft, slightly flute-like | A gentler tone with some harmonics |
| Square | Hollow and buzzy | Making a tone audible on small speakers that cannot play the fundamental |
| Sawtooth | Bright and harsh | Hearing how equipment handles a harmonically rich signal |
Only the sine wave contains a single frequency. The others add harmonics above the frequency you set, so a 60 Hz square wave can be heard on a laptop that plays nothing at 60 Hz. For checking what a speaker can really reproduce, stick to sine.
| Frequency | What it is useful for |
|---|---|
| 20–60 Hz | Subwoofer depth. Most laptop and phone speakers produce little or nothing here. |
| 100 Hz | Rattle hunting. Sweep slowly around it to find loose panels or fittings in a room. |
| 440 Hz | Concert pitch, the A above middle C, used to tune instruments. |
| 1 kHz | The standard reference tone for comparing levels between channels or devices. |
| 10–15 kHz | Tweeter checks and a rough sense of your upper hearing range. |
Tones here cannot be saved and nothing is sent anywhere. For a fixed sequence that checks a whole setup, use the sound test instead.
A tone generator produces a steady sound at a chosen frequency and waveform. This one runs in your browser and needs no download, account or permission prompt.
Use 1 kHz as a reference level, 60 to 100 Hz to check bass, and around 10 kHz to check a tweeter. A sine wave gives the cleanest result.
Small speakers cannot move enough air to reproduce low bass, so tones below roughly 100 to 200 Hz may be faint or silent. That is a physical limit rather than a fault. Try headphones to confirm.
Upper hearing range falls naturally with age, and some speakers and Bluetooth codecs roll off high frequencies. Do not raise the volume to compensate, because a tone you cannot hear can still be loud.
Yes, in current mobile Chrome and Safari. On iPhone, make sure the volume is up. Left and right output needs headphones on phones with a single speaker.