Test for Tone Deafness

• Smallest pitch step wey you hear: na cents. Semitone, wey be the step between two piano keys wey dey side by side, na 100 cents. Na this step you fit tell apart about 7 times out of 10. Smaller one mean say your hearing fine pass.
• Rhythms wey you match: how many of the 5 rhythms wey you tap back close well. Tempo no count: we stretch your taps to match the length of the rhythm before we compare.
• Rhythm timing error: on average, how far each gap between your taps dey from the rhythm gap, as percentage.
• Notes wey you name (optional part): how many single notes you name exactly. If note miss by one semitone, you still get part mark for the percentage, the way researchers dey score am [1].

1. Check sound. You go hear four notes wey dey go up, so you fit set volume wey comfortable. Loud no mean better.
2. Higher or lower? Two tones go play, one after the other. The second one dey higher or lower? The first tone pitch dey change every time, between 330 and 660 Hz, so you no fit learn one fixed note. The step start at 100 cents. After two correct answers one after the other, e go smaller; after one wrong answer, e go bigger. This "2-down, 1-up" rule settle where you dey correct about 71% of the time [9]. E stop after 10 turning points, and your result na the average of the last 6.
3. Rhythm. One short click rhythm go play 2 times; then tap am back. 5 rhythms dey.
4. Perfect pitch test (optional). 12 single notes, with no reference note and no feedback. Name each one for the keyboard.

Your browser dey make every sound; no recording dey inside.

Perfect pitch (absolute pitch) na when you fit name note without hearing reference note first. For one big online study, people wey get am score far higher pass everybody else; the scores form two separate groups, with few people in between [1]. How common e be depend on who you ask: about 30% of Japanese music students and 7% of Polish music students pass one strict test [7], and early lessons plus tone language make am more likely [6]. Most people, including most good musicians, get relative pitch instead: dem hear the steps between notes, no be the notes by themselves.

• Music training. Years of playing instrument or singing fit make pitch steps much easier to hear [2][3].
• Practice on the test itself. Thresholds dey drop for the first few tries, even inside one session [2]. Compare your next try with this one.
• Headphones and room. Headphones and quiet room dey help. Small phone speakers fit make low tones hard to hear.
• Attention and tiredness. If your attention comot for one try, the step go jump up again.
• Rhythm habits. When people dey tap back rhythms, dem fit drift toward simple rhythms, like long notes wey last twice as long as short ones [10]. Some "error" dey normal for everybody.

The Helibrain tone deaf test na ear game for fun, based on research tasks. E no be hearing test, e no diagnose amusia, and e no be the research tests wey dem dey use diagnose amusia (like the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia) [11]. Browser audio and speakers no be lab equipment, so take your numbers as rough estimate.

If your hearing dey worry you, for example if speech dey sound muffled, see doctor or audiologist.