Hear two notes, then say whether the second one went up, went down or stayed the same. The steps shrink as you get them right, and you finish with the smallest pitch change you can hear. Free, about two minutes, no microphone.
How it works
Twenty quick rounds of careful listening. Use headphones if you can, in the quietest room you have.
Step 1
Tap Play a test sound and set a comfortable volume. Headphones beat laptop speakers here, because the differences get small. On an iPhone, switch off silent mode. You never need a microphone: this test only asks you to listen.
Step 2
Each round plays two short notes. Tap Higher, Lower or Same, or use the arrow keys and S. The first gap is one semitone, 100 cents. Right answers shrink the gap, down to as little as 10 cents; a miss widens it again.
Step 3
After 20 rounds you see the smallest pitch change you reliably heard, in cents and as a share of a semitone, how many answers you got right, and your level, from Excellent down to Larger steps only.
Quick reference
Your main result is the smallest pitch change you could hear, and smaller is better. 100 cents make one semitone, the step between two neighboring piano keys.
| Level | Smallest change heard | In semitones | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 15 cents or less | 0.15 or less | Fine hearing, like trained musicians |
| Good | 16–35 cents | 0.16–0.35 | Better than most untrained listeners |
| Typical | 36–70 cents | 0.36–0.70 | Normal range without musical training |
| Developing | 71–120 cents | 0.71–1.20 | Hears about a semitone; not tone deaf |
| Larger steps only | Over 120 cents | Over 1.20 | Retest with headphones in quiet |
Levels are this test's own guide bands, not clinical cut-offs. The result comes from the points where your answers kept switching between right and wrong, so one lucky guess doesn't decide it, and the same-note rounds flag guessing. If you keep landing in the last band with good headphones, read the section on what tone deafness really is.
Highlights
Most "am I tone deaf" quizzes ask about you. This test measures your hearing with an adaptive method of the kind used in hearing research.
The test opens with an easy one-semitone change and then homes in on your limit: right answers shrink the gap, misses widen it. Your result is taken from the turning points where your answers flipped between right and wrong, a steadier measure than a plain score out of 20.
Four of the 20 rounds play exactly the same note twice, never in the first two rounds. If you hear a change that is not there in two or more of them, your result says so, because it usually means guessing crept into the other rounds too.
The first note of each pair moves around between G3 and G4, a comfortable middle range. Because it never sits still, you cannot memorize one note and compare everything against it. You have to hear the change inside each pair, which is exactly the skill being measured.
This is a listening test, so your microphone stays off the whole time. The tones are generated in your browser, nothing is uploaded and there is no sign-up. It takes about two minutes, so retesting on another day, or with better headphones, is easy.
In everyday speech, "tone deaf" means someone who sings out of tune. In research it means something narrower: congenital amusia, a lifelong difficulty with pitch that is present from birth and is not caused by hearing loss or brain injury. People with amusia often cannot tell whether a note went up or down, even for changes of a semitone or more, and many struggle to recognize a familiar tune without its words.
It is less common than people think. Studies estimate that roughly 1.5 to 4% of people have congenital amusia. Far more believe they are tone deaf: in one study of university students, about one in six described themselves that way, yet most of them scored normally on listening tests. Researchers diagnose amusia with longer batteries of listening tasks, such as the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia, so no two-minute online test can diagnose it, this one included.
Amusia is also not the same as being unmusical or having no sense of rhythm, which are separate abilities, and most people with it speak and follow speech normally. Pitch problems can also start later in life after a stroke or other brain injury. That is called acquired amusia, and it is a question for a doctor, not a web test.
Most off-key singing has nothing to do with tone deafness. Research on "poor-pitch singers" has found that most of them hear pitch normally; the trouble is steering the voice to the note they hear. That is a coordination skill, like throwing a ball where you are looking, and it improves with practice. If you heard changes of about a semitone or smaller in this test, your ears are probably not what is holding your singing back.
A short daily routine helps most people. Spend about 10 minutes a day on the exercises below, then check your progress with the singing test, which plays a melody and scores how closely you sing it back. The full plan is in our guide on how to sing in tune, and you can browse more free voice tests any time.
Last updated October 21, 2026
Use cases
Usually someone who was told they cannot sing and wants to know whether that is really true.
Find out whether the problem is your ears or just practice. Most people who think they are tone deaf hear pitch normally.
Get a baseline before lessons or choir, then retest after a few weeks of practice and watch your hearing sharpen.
A quick, no-mic listening check for older kids who can follow a higher-or-lower question. Keep it playful, not a verdict.
See how fine your pitch hearing really is. Trained ears often land in the Good or Excellent band, at 35 cents or less.
FAQ
Honest answers about tone deafness, amusia and what this test can and cannot tell you.
Still have a question?
The quickest way to find out is to try it yourself. It only takes a minute.
Twenty pairs of notes, about two minutes and no microphone. You will see the smallest pitch change your ears can catch.
