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396 Hz
396 Hz is a single sine tone sitting a shade above G4 — the highest and most present of the three solfeggio tones on this site. One pitch, no harmonics, no movement. It carries further across a room than 174 or 285 Hz, which suits some listeners and tires others quickly.
Ready to play
Stack this under rain or a fire, keep the blend, and play it with your screen off. Slo, on iOS, Android and Mac.
What 396 Hz sounds like
A single sine wave at 396 Hz, identical in both channels, with no harmonics and no variation across the loop. Standard concert tuning puts G4 at 392 Hz, so this tone reads as a slightly sharp G. Being higher, it sits further forward than the other two tones here and needs less volume to be audible — start lower than you think you need. It masks nothing; a pure tone occupies one narrow slice of the spectrum and leaves the rest of the room untouched.
Why a medieval frequency is not possible
The claim that these pitches come from Gregorian chant runs into a measurement problem. Absolute pitch standardisation is modern — ISO 16:1975 is what fixes A4 at 440 Hz — and measuring sound in hertz postdates the chant traditions the story invokes by centuries. A medieval frequency assignment could not have been made, because there was no shared frequency to assign. The tone is real and worth hearing; the history around it is not.
The other two pitches are on the 285 Hz tone and the 174 Hz tone, and every browser player is listed on the sound library index. If a bare pitch feels too exposed, the 396 Hz and rain blend in the free sound mixer gives it a moving backdrop to sit inside.
Frequently asked questions
What musical note is 396 Hz?
It is a few cents above G4, which standard concert tuning fixes at 392 Hz.
Is 396 Hz linked to Gregorian chant?
No. Measuring pitch in hertz and standardising A4 at 440 Hz are both modern conventions, so the chant traditions the story invokes could not have assigned a frequency.
Should I play 396 Hz loudly?
Start quiet. A higher pure tone is easy to hear at low levels and becomes fatiguing quickly when pushed.
Can a pure tone mask background noise?
Not usefully. Its energy sits at a single pitch, so broadband sounds such as brown or pink noise are the better choice for covering a room.