Independent hearing and tinnitus guidance

Tinnitus and hearing decisions, made clearer.

Understand a hearing result, find practical tinnitus help, and compare hearing aids, apps, or protection without fake tests or cure claims.

Find the right starting point Compare products

Source-backed guides · 7 free browser tools · Educational, not clinical advice

Start here

What do you need help with today?

Choose the closest question. Each path starts with a plain answer and shows its sources and limits.

Hearing tests

Understand your hearing test

Learn what the lines, symbols, and thresholds on an audiogram mean before your next conversation.

Explain my audiogram

Tinnitus

Make tinnitus easier to live with

Start with practical help for sleep, sound, triggers, and the symptoms that need medical attention.

Start with tinnitus and sleep

Noise protection

Protect your hearing

Match earplugs or earmuffs to the noise, fit, duration, and place where you will use them.

Compare hearing protection

Buying help

Compare hearing aids and apps

Check purpose, evidence, fit, limits, ongoing cost, and support before you choose a product.

Open the buying guides

Primary sources. Key claims link to NIH, NIDCD, NIOSH, NHS, Mayo Clinic, or professional guidance.

Working tools. Audio tools run in your browser and state what their result can and cannot tell you.

Clear commercial links. Affiliate routes are labeled, and a paid link does not decide the editorial conclusion.

Shopping help

Compare the job first, then the brand.

Start with what you need the product to do. Then check the evidence, fit, limits, total cost, and support before you buy.

Category 01 · Hearing aids

Hear speech more clearly.

Compare OTC and clinician-fitted hearing aids by hearing status, fit, controls, and support after purchase. The guide does not pick a device for your case.

Read the hearing-aid guide →

Category 02 · Sound support

Use sound for a defined job.

Sound apps and sound enrichment can serve different jobs, such as background sound, sleep, or tracking. Check the feature, volume control, timer, privacy, and evidence.

Read the sound-app guide →

Category 03 · Hearing protection

Match protection to the noise.

Compare reusable earplugs, filtered protectors, and earmuffs by exposure, fit, communication, and the setting where you will actually wear them.

Read the protection guide →

Direct merchant routes · affiliate approval pending

Loop ↗EAROS ↗

Category 04 · Tinnitus supplements

Treat the claim as a claim.

Evidence for tinnitus supplements is weak. No supplement is proven to treat or cure tinnitus. Test for a documented deficiency before treating a pill as a plan.

Read the evidence note →

Existing tracked routes · not medical recommendations

EchoXen ↗Audifort ↗

01 Name the job before the product.

02 Check that the evidence matches the claim.

03 Keep the route, terms, and limits visible.

Free hearing tools

Check one useful thing now.

Each tool explains its method and limits. Calculations and audio generation stay in your browser, with no account or upload.

TEL-T01

Find your tinnitus pitch

Standard audiology pure-tone matching with an octave-confusion check. Save the result and download a PDF.

Range 125 Hz - 16 kHzDuration 3 min

Match your pitch →

TEL-T02

Calculate your noise dose

NIOSH + OSHA daily-dose check against published limits, with the time-to-100% reference.

Range 40 - 140 dBADuration 1 min

Run the dose calc →

TEL-T03

Test your hearing range

A logarithmic sweep from 8 to 20 kHz with ISO 7029 comparison. Tap when you stop hearing the tone.

Range 8 - 20 kHzDuration 2 min

Test your range →

TEL-T04

Calculate your pure-tone average

Copy thresholds from an audiogram and compare the standard PTA with the WHO 4-frequency better-ear method.

Range -10 - 120 dB HLDuration 1 min

Calculate your PTA →

TEL-T05

Track tinnitus patterns privately

Save loudness, distress, sleep, stress, and notes in this browser, then view a seven-entry trend or export a CSV.

Range 0 - 10 scalesDuration 2 min

Open the private diary →

TEL-T06

Decode audiogram symbols

See the common air, bone, masking, and no-response marks side by side and filter the key by test type.

Range 8 symbol rowsDuration 2 min

Open the symbol key →

TEL-T07

Plot a speech banana audiogram

Copy one ear from an existing audiogram onto an illustrative speech region, with clear limits on what the chart can show.

Range 250 Hz - 8 kHzDuration 2 min

Plot your thresholds →

TEL-T08

Notched sound therapy generator

Broadband noise with a 1/3-octave notch centered on your matched pitch forthcoming

The Ear Lab Notes · weekly

One short note each week.

Plain-language summaries of new tinnitus and hearing research, useful primary sources, and updates when we ship a new instrument. From the editors behind @TheEarLab.

· No tracking pixels· One-click unsubscribe· RFC 8058 header

Hearing guide library

137 notes on hearing.

See all notes →

TEL-N016 · Frequencies

How to read an audiogram: symbols and hearing test results

Read hearing test results step by step. Decode audiogram symbols, the dB-HL and frequency axes, air versus bone conduction, masking, and the speech banana.

Read note →

TEL-N042 · Management

Tinnitus and sleep: why nights are worst and how to break the cycle

Sleep deprivation worsens tinnitus and tinnitus worsens sleep. Cognitive, environmental, and behavioral interventions with the strongest evidence for breaking the feedbac...

Read note →

TEL-N057 · Lifestyle

Choosing a hearing protector: NRR ratings, fit, and real-world protection

Noise Reduction Rating is a laboratory label, not a personal result. Learn how fit testing, comfort, noise level, and consistent use guide protector choice.

Read note →

The index

All notes, by topic

Types10

Lifestyle23

Science19

Sound Therapy09

Causes32

Management28

Frequencies06

Comorbidities10

Before you buy

Compare the decision, not just the product page.

Our decision guides keep category, evidence, fit, limits, and support in the same frame. No five-star badges, fake tests, or paid editorial conclusions.

Open decision guides →

Video explainers

We also explain it on YouTube.

Short video explainers on tinnitus, hearing, and the strange biology of the ear. Same editorial team.

Watch @TheEarLab