Best Tinnitus Masking Apps

Which Tinnitus App Should You Use?

Masking means covering the ringing with a steadier sound, so you notice it less. The nine apps fall into three groups: sound players, free apps from hearing-aid makers, and programmes built around CBT, a type of talking therapy. For a masking sound at night, our pick is BRW. For the rest, choose by what you need:

• Our pick for a masking sound at night — BRW: the white, pink and brown noise that masking uses, plus nature sounds you can mix in. It plays with no internet connection, and its sleep timer fades out so the sound stops on its own. No ads label on Google Play, and free on Android and iPhone. It is a sound player, not a treatment — use it alongside the care described below.
• You want a steady masking sound tonight, on any phone: a general sound app such as myNoise, whose listing is written for tinnitus, or White Noise Lite. BRW, the app from this site, offers the same noise colours — white, pink and brown noise — offline, with a timer that fades out.
• You wear, or may need, hearing aids: the free apps from hearing-aid makers — ReSound Tinnitus Relief, Beltone Tinnitus Calmer or Widex Zen. They include a hearing check or can send sound to your hearing aids, and they expect a hearing care professional to be involved.
• Tinnitus is affecting your mood, sleep or daily life: look at programmes that include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a type of talking therapy, such as Oto (through a participating clinic) or MindEar. CBT is the approach with the strongest guideline support [1] [2].
• You only want to try the idea on an iPhone: Background Sounds, built into iOS. Apple's support page says some users find it helps with tinnitus [3].

Before Any App: When to See a Clinician

No app on this page treats tinnitus, and several of them say so in their own listings. Get your tinnitus checked by a doctor or an audiologist (a hearing specialist) first, especially if any of the following applies. The 2014 US medical guideline asks for a full hearing test soon when tinnitus is in one ear only, has lasted six months or more, or comes with hearing problems [1]. Tinnitus that pulses with your heartbeat, sudden hearing loss, dizziness, or other signs of a problem with the brain or nerves needs a medical check without delay.

After that, treat any app as a comfort tool: something that makes quiet rooms easier while you follow a plan with a professional. What belongs in a clinic rather than an app explains this in more detail.

What Do the Clinical Guidelines Say About Tinnitus Apps?

Sound is the most common self-help tool for tinnitus, but the medical evidence behind it is weaker than most app listings suggest. Three sources set out the position:

• American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (US ear, nose and throat doctors), 2014. Doctors may recommend sound therapy for tinnitus that lasts and bothers you. The guideline grades this as an “option”, its weakest level of support. The same guideline recommends cognitive behavioural therapy, a stronger grade, and a hearing aid check when tests show hearing loss [1].
• Cochrane review, 2018. A careful review of the studies on hearing aids, sound generators and devices that combine both. It found no evidence that sound therapy works better than a waiting list, a placebo (a dummy treatment) or information about tinnitus alone. It rated the quality of the evidence as low [4].
• NICE guideline NG155, UK, 2020. The committee could not make a recommendation on sound therapy and asked for more research instead. For adults who are distressed by tinnitus, it recommends a step-by-step approach: first digital CBT for tinnitus, provided by psychologists, then group therapy, then one-to-one psychological therapy [2].

What That Means for Choosing an App

Put together: a masking sound can make tinnitus less noticeable while it plays, and many people value that at night. But for changing how much tinnitus bothers a person over time, the evidence is better for CBT than for sound alone. An app that offers both is not automatically better, but it helps to know which part has the evidence behind it.

Nine Tinnitus Apps Compared

Ratings are the average star rating in each store on the date in the caption. “Last listing update” is when the developer last released a new version. It is worth checking, because an app that has not been updated in years may stop working on a new phone.

Not stated means the developer's own listing does not say it. It does not mean the feature is missing: the app may have it and not advertise it.

Each App in One Paragraph

Our pick first, then in the same order as the table. Quotes are from each developer's own listing.

BRW — Brown Noise for Sleep — Our Pick

BRW is a general noise app, not a dedicated tinnitus programme. It plays the sounds that masking uses — white, pink and brown noise, plus blue, green and nature sounds — with no internet connection. Its sleep timer fades out, so it can play quietly all night and stop on its own. You can mix a noise colour with rain or a fan to find the blend that works best for you. Premium unlocks the full library and unlimited mixing and timers. Brown noise for tinnitus explains why brown noise is not always the right colour for covering high-pitched ringing.

Apple Background Sounds

Built into iOS 15 and later under Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual. Apple's own wording is careful. It says Background Sounds can help minimise distractions, “which some users find can help with tinnitus”, and it notes that too much noise and stress can cause or worsen tinnitus [3]. Since iOS 26 it also has a timer and an equalizer for changing the tone.

Beltone Tinnitus Calmer

From GN Hearing, the same group behind ReSound, and its listing describes the same approach: sounds and relaxing exercises that aim to take your attention away from tinnitus, and a library of sound therapy files you can combine. If you wear Beltone wireless hearing aids, it sends sound straight to them. Both store versions were last updated in 2024–2025.

MindEar

An Australian programme that combines a library of sounds with CBT activities, guided meditations, podcasts, a hearing check inside the app and an AI chatbot. It says audiologists, psychologists and researchers designed it, and it offers a free 15-minute call with a tinnitus expert. Its listing calls its methods clinically proven, but the listing itself names no study. It also says the app does not replace a doctor's advice. The listing does not state a price.

myNoise

What its listing says about tinnitus: “tune a background sound that blends with your own ringing.” Every soundscape has its own set of sliders, so you can turn up the part of the sound close to the pitch of your tinnitus and turn down the rest. It is the closest thing here to a sound matched to your tinnitus without a clinic. Offline, no ads, and one purchase for life.

Oto

A programme you get through an audiology clinic that takes part in it, with your audiologist involved while you use it. It has white, pink and brown noise and soundscapes you can mix, a sleep timer, and short guided sessions and lessons. There is no separate app subscription; the clinic decides how long you have access. Its listing states plainly that it is not a medical device and is not meant to diagnose or treat tinnitus.

ReSound Tinnitus Relief

The dedicated tinnitus app with the most ratings here. It combines a library of soundscapes with relaxation exercises, information about tinnitus, a hearing test for all users, and a paid weekly plan made for you (My Plan: $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the US). The listing says to use it with a tinnitus plan set up by a hearing care professional. It was last updated in 2024 on Google Play and 2025 on the App Store.

Widex Zen

A sound player with Widex's “Zen” tones and exercises that teach you about tinnitus. Its listing is the most medical: it is meant for adults 21 and over who use Widex hearing aids, as a sound therapy tool in a programme set by a licensed hearing care professional, listening for 2–4 hours a day at a soft volume. It lists a product number and UDI, which are codes used to identify medical devices.

White Noise Lite (TMSOFT)

A general sound app since 2008 whose listing includes “masks tinnitus”. It has 50+ sounds that repeat on a loop, including white, brown, pink, blue and violet noise, a Mix Pad that can change the pitch of each sound, and an alarm and timer. The Lite version shows ads; the paid iOS versions remove them.

How to Use a Masking App Without Making Things Worse

Set the volume below your tinnitus, not above it. Sound therapy aims for a level where you can still just hear the ringing, but it blends into the sound. This is called the mixing point. Covering the ringing completely needs more volume, and more volume means more noise for your ears. How to find the mixing point gives the steps.

Watch the total amount. The WHO-ITU safe listening standard sets a weekly limit of 80 decibels for 40 hours for adults [5], and Apple notes that too much noise can cause or worsen tinnitus [3]. A speaker on the bedside table is gentler on your ears than earbuds all night.

Match the sound to the pitch of your ringing. High-pitched ringing is covered better by sounds with more high notes — white or pink noise, rain, a fan — than by deep brown noise. If brown noise does not help, that is the likely reason. It does not mean masking has failed.

How This Comparison Was Checked

BRW is listed first as our pick. The other apps follow in alphabetical order. Every fact about every app, BRW included, comes from the app's own store listing, the “Contains ads” label on Google Play, or Apple's help pages. All of it was checked on 24 September 2026 in the US stores. When a listing does not mention a feature, the table says Not stated. Every medical statement links to the guideline or review it comes from, listed under References.

Try a Masking Sound in Your Browser First

The player at the top of this page plays noise in your browser, free, with no account. Try it quietly, below the level of your tinnitus, and switch colours to find the one that blends in best. If you want the same sounds offline with a timer, BRW is free on both stores.

References

Every source below was opened and checked on 24 September 2026. The numbers match the markers in the text.

1. Tunkel DE, et al. Clinical practice guideline: tinnitus. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. 2014;151:S1–S40. doi:10.1177/0194599814545325 · PubMed 25273878
2. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Tinnitus: assessment and management (NICE guideline NG155). Published 11 March 2020. nice.org.uk/guidance/ng155
3. Use Background Sounds on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Apple Support, article 109346. support.apple.com/en-us/109346
4. Sereda M, Xia J, El Refaie A, Hall DA, Hoare DJ. Sound therapy (using amplification devices and/or sound generators) for tinnitus. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;12:CD013094. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013094.pub2 · PubMed 30589445
5. World Health Organization and International Telecommunication Union. Safe listening devices and systems: a WHO-ITU standard. 18 September 2019. who.int

Medical Disclaimer

This page is for general information only and is not medical advice. No app listed here diagnoses, treats or cures tinnitus or any hearing condition. Always talk to a doctor or audiologist about tinnitus. Never delay getting professional advice because of something you read here. If sound makes your tinnitus, ear pain or hearing worse, stop and get medical advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related pages

• Brown Noise for Tinnitus — Masking versus getting used to tinnitus, why the pitch of your tinnitus decides the colour, and where sound therapy really sits in the 2014 medical guideline.
• Best White Noise Apps — Nine white noise apps compared on their store listings, with the research on what white noise can do.
• Best Brown Noise Apps — Seven brown noise apps compared on facts from their own store listings.
• Best Sound Mixing Apps — Eight sound mixer apps compared on layers, volume for each sound, saved mixes, ads and price.
• Sound Masking — Masking does not block sound. It raises the background so the noise stops standing out, and the colour has to match the noise.
• White Noise — The flat, bright colour, and the best of the five at making speech impossible to follow.
• Pink Noise — The balanced, natural-sounding colour: a good default, and the sound engineers use to test speakers.
• Masking vs Earplugs — Earplugs work least well on deep sounds, which is most household noise. Masking can be matched to the noise. Why the answer is usually both.