Tone deaf test
Two tones. Was the second one higher or lower? The gap shrinks as you get it right, until we find the smallest difference you can hear.
About 3 minutes. Headphones help. The test ends after 12 turning points in difficulty.
Tone deaf or just untrained?
Most people who say “I’m tone deaf” mean they can’t sing in tune. Singing accurately is a motor skill: your ear hears the pitch, but your voice has not learned to match it. That is trainable. Genuine tone deafness (congenital amusia) is a perception problem. People with amusia often cannot tell whether a melody went up or down and may not notice a wrong note in a familiar tune.
This test isolates perception. It uses pure tones between roughly 330 and 440 Hz and an adaptive staircase (two correct answers make it harder, one wrong makes it easier), which converges on the gap you get right about 71% of the time. A result of 5–25 cents is common for adults; musicians often reach below 10.
Next step: if your threshold is fine, you have the raw hearing to train intervals. Start with the interval trainer.
Questions
What does it mean to be tone deaf?
True tone deafness, called congenital amusia, is a lifelong difficulty perceiving pitch differences. Researchers such as Isabelle Peretz estimate it affects roughly 1.5–4% of people. Many more people who call themselves tone deaf can hear pitch fine but have not trained their singing voice.
How does this tone deaf test work?
Two tones play. You say whether the second was higher or lower. The gap starts at 100 cents (one semitone) and shrinks after correct answers and widens after mistakes, an adaptive “staircase” method used in hearing research. After 12 reversals, your threshold is the average gap at the turning points.
What is a cent?
A cent is one hundredth of a semitone. The gap between C and C♯ on a piano is 100 cents. Most adults with normal hearing can detect differences of about 5–25 cents between tones like these; trained musicians often do better.
What if I score badly?
Try again with headphones in a quiet room. Results are affected by speakers, background noise and attention. A threshold above about 100 cents on repeated attempts can be a sign of amusia; the University of Montreal’s BRAMS lab runs research-grade online tests if you want a formal assessment.
Can I improve my pitch discrimination?
Yes. Pitch discrimination improves with practice for most people. Interval and melody training on this site builds the same skill in a musical context.