What Does Tinnitus Sound Like? Ringing, Buzzing, Hissing & More

If you have found yourself trying to describe a sound in your ears that no one else seems to hear, you are not alone, and you may be surprised by how varied that sound can be from one person to the next. Tinnitus is often called ringing in the ears, but for many people it is nothing like a ring at all. Putting a name to the sound you are hearing can be reassuring in itself, and it is often a useful first step towards understanding what is behind it.

This guide describes the sounds people most often report, why they can differ so much, and what the sound of your tinnitus does, and does not, tell you.

What does tinnitus sound like?

Tinnitus is the experience of hearing sounds that are not caused by an external source. It is commonly described as ringing, but in practice people report a wide range of sounds. These include ringing, buzzing, whooshing, humming, hissing, and throbbing, and for some people the sound resembles music or singing.

The sound can be soft or loud, and it can be low or high pitched. It may be steady and present all the time, or it may come and go. Some people hear it in one ear, some in both, and some experience it as coming from inside the head rather than the ears. To understand where tinnitus fits within the wider condition, our guide to what tinnitus is sets out the bigger picture.

The most common tinnitus sounds

Ringing is the description most people reach for first, but it is only one of many. Hissing, similar to the sound of escaping steam, is very common, as are buzzing and a low, steady humming that some compare to a running refrigerator or a distant engine. Others describe whistling, roaring, or occasional clicking.

The pitch varies a great deal from person to person, ranging from low through to high. There may be a single sound or several at once, and the sound may be constant or intermittent. Occasionally, tinnitus is experienced as fragments of tunes or songs, which are known as musical hallucinations. None of these descriptions is more valid than another. Tinnitus is a personal experience, and the way you would describe yours is exactly the right way to describe it.

Why does tinnitus sound the way it does?

Most tinnitus is subjective, which means only the person experiencing it can hear the sound. It is closely associated with some degree of hearing loss, and for many people the two go together, even where the hearing loss is mild enough that it has not been particularly noticed.

The pitch and quality of the sound can vary widely between individuals, and in some cases the sound people describe may relate to the pattern of their hearing. This is not a fixed rule, however, and many people experience tinnitus without any obvious or predictable link between its pitch and their hearing. In a small number of cases, tinnitus takes a rhythmical form that beats in time with the heartbeat, which is known as pulsatile tinnitus and is worth understanding on its own if you are hearing your heartbeat in your ear. More rarely still, the sound can be detected by a clinician as well as the patient, in which case it is described as objective tinnitus. The full range of reasons behind the sound is covered in our guide to what causes tinnitus.

There is also a deeper reason the sound exists at all, and it is a reassuring one. When researchers have placed people with normal hearing and no tinnitus in an anechoic chamber, a room built to remove almost all external sound, the large majority begin to hear faint tinnitus-like sounds of their own, an effect confirmed by later studies at rates typically between around 83 and 92 per cent. A low level of internal neural noise appears to be a normal property of the hearing system, usually kept below awareness because everyday sound masks it. Tinnitus, in this light, is often this ordinary background signal becoming noticeable rather than a foreign sound, which is part of why it can take so many different forms from one person to the next.

Can you get tinnitus in one ear?

Yes. Tinnitus can be heard in one ear, in both ears, or in the head, and all of these are recognised patterns.

Tinnitus affecting both ears is the most common experience, and on its own it is generally not a cause for particular concern. Tinnitus in one ear only, described as unilateral tinnitus, is more often worth having assessed. In a small number of cases, one-sided tinnitus can be linked to a cause that affects that side specifically, such as earwax, an ear infection, or, less commonly, something involving the hearing nerve. It is important to keep this in perspective: most one-sided tinnitus turns out to be benign. Even so, persistent tinnitus in one ear is a recognised reason for arranging a hearing assessment, simply so that anything treatable can be identified. If you are wondering when to see a specialist, one-sided tinnitus that persists is one of the clearer reasons to do so.

When the sound of your tinnitus is worth checking

It is natural to wonder whether a particular sound means something more serious, but the type of sound you hear is not, by itself, a reliable guide to that. A high-pitched ring is not inherently more concerning than a low hum. What tends to matter more is the overall picture: whether the tinnitus is persistent, whether it affects only one ear, whether it beats in time with your pulse, and whether it comes alongside other symptoms such as hearing loss or dizziness.

It is this combination of factors, rather than the sound alone, that helps determine whether an assessment is recommended. Where the tinnitus is ongoing, one-sided, pulsatile, or accompanied by other symptoms, or simply where it is troubling you, a professional assessment can identify any underlying cause and guide the most appropriate next steps. If the sound is on your mind, you can speak to a tinnitus specialist and have it looked at properly.