hiiss terms & safety

Terms & safety

Last updated [[ SET DATE BEFORE LAUNCH ]]

In plain terms. hiiss is a free sound generator. It is not a medical device and makes no health claims. Please keep the volume low, be especially careful around infants, and read the binaural note below if you have a seizure disorder. The service is provided as-is.

Using hiiss

By using hiiss you accept these terms. If you do not, please do not use it. hiiss is offered free of charge, with no account and no guarantee that it will remain available.

Health and safety

Not a medical device

hiiss is for general relaxation, concentration and sound masking. It is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition, including tinnitus, insomnia, anxiety or attention disorders. Nothing here is medical advice. If you have a health concern — including persistent ringing in the ears, or trouble sleeping — please consult a qualified professional. Do not use hiiss in place of treatment they recommend.

Hearing safety

Sustained sound at high volume can damage hearing, and the risk grows with both loudness and duration. This matters more here than with music, because noise is designed to be played continuously and for hours.

  • Set the volume to the lowest level that does the job. If it is masking a noise, it only needs to blend with it, not bury it.
  • If you have to raise your voice to be heard over it, it is too loud.
  • Be cautious with headphones, which put the sound much closer to your ears than speakers do.
  • Take breaks. Consider the sleep timer rather than leaving it running all night.

Infants and children

Sound machines are widely used in nurseries, and research on infant sleep machines has found that some can exceed recommended noise limits when played at maximum volume at close range. Infant hearing is more vulnerable than adult hearing.

  • Place the device as far from the crib as practical — never in or attached to it.
  • Keep the volume low, well below maximum.
  • Limit how long it runs; use the sleep timer.
  • If you have any doubt, ask your paediatrician.

The presets aimed at soothing, including the one built from a heartbeat pulse, are offered for comfort only and make no developmental or health claim.

Binaural audio

The binaural source plays two slightly different tones, one in each ear, and requires headphones to have any effect. Frequency band names such as "delta" or "alpha" describe the difference between the two tones. They are conventional labels for those frequency ranges; they are not a claim that listening produces a particular mental state. Evidence for such effects is limited and mixed.

  • If you have epilepsy or any seizure disorder, or are prone to migraine, please consult a doctor before using rhythmic or binaural audio. Rhythmic stimulation can be a trigger for a small number of people.
  • Stop immediately if you feel dizzy, nauseous, disoriented or unwell.
  • Do not use it while driving, operating machinery, or doing anything else that needs your full attention.

Do not rely on it for anything critical

hiiss runs in a web browser and can be interrupted by a lost connection, a browser update, a phone locking its screen, or a tab being discarded to save memory. Do not use it as an alarm, a monitor, or for any purpose where a failure to play — or to stop — would matter.

Share links

When you create a share link, the settings of your mix are stored on our server and anyone with the address can open it. Links are public and guessable; treat them as such. Do not put anything you consider private into a shared mix, including in a YouTube URL. We may remove links at any time, and we will remove one on request. See the Privacy Policy for detail.

Acceptable use

Please do not attempt to disrupt the service, defeat its rate limits, gain unauthorised access, or use it to infringe anyone's rights. We may block access that does.

Audio you provide

You can load your own audio file to loop. That file stays on your device and is never uploaded. You are responsible for having the right to use any audio you load.

YouTube

Video playback is provided by YouTube. Using it means also accepting the YouTube Terms of Service, and Google's handling of your data under the Google Privacy Policy. We do not control what YouTube shows, including advertising.

Other people's work

The icons used here are derived from the Lucide icon set and are used under its licence. See Notices.

No warranty

hiiss is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and uninterrupted or error-free operation. You use it at your own risk.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss arising from your use of hiiss, including lost sleep, lost data, lost share links, or hearing harm resulting from use at volumes or durations against the guidance above. Some jurisdictions do not allow these exclusions, in which case they apply only as far as permitted, and nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited — including for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Changes

We may update these terms; the date at the top will change. We may also change or withdraw features, or stop offering hiiss entirely.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of [[ YOUR JURISDICTION — e.g. the State of Delaware, USA ]], and disputes will be handled by its courts.

Contact

[[ CONTACT EMAIL AND, IF YOU HAVE ONE, THE LEGAL ENTITY OPERATING HIISS ]]