Free online tool
Perfect Pitch Test - Do You Have Absolute Pitch?
Take a perfect pitch test in your browser: name 10 to 36 random notes, each after a burst of random tones, and see your exact and one-semitone scores.
Each note is preceded by a burst of random tones. Name the note without a reference: no piano, no humming the last note. Turn the volume to a comfortable level first.
Note 1 of 20
Get ready.
Keyboard: c d e f g a b, hold Shift for a sharp (C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ A♯), r to replay.
Your result
0% exact
- Exact
- 0
- One semitone off
- 0
- Further off
- 0
- Weighted score
- 0
- Average response time
- 0
Accuracy by note
| Note | Tested at (Hz) | Tested | Exact | Semitone off | Answered instead | Avg time |
|---|
Every note in order
| # | Played | Hz | Your answer | Off by | Time |
|---|
About the Perfect Pitch Test
This perfect pitch test checks whether you can name a musical note by ear, without a reference tone. It runs in your web browser, is free, and needs no sign-up. You hear a note, click its name on a 12-key keyboard or press its letter, and get a score with a comparison to the line used in a published study on absolute pitch.
Nothing you enter is uploaded. The test covers note names only: it does not identify octaves or cents, and it assumes A4 = 440 Hz. It is an informal check, not a diagnosis. If you want to see whether a score holds, take the test again on another day.
How to use the Perfect pitch test
- Choose the number of notes: 10, 20 (the default) or 36.
- Choose the sound: Piano-like (the default) or Sine wave.
- Choose the octave range: One octave (C4 to B4), Three octaves (C3 to B5, the default) or Wide (C2 to B6).
- Leave Allow one replay per note ticked if you want one replay for each note. It is on by default.
- Press Start the test.
- Wait for each note to start. The keys are disabled until then. Answer by clicking the on-screen keys or by pressing a key on your keyboard. The answer is recorded, and the next note starts after a short gap.
- Press Replay note to hear the same note once more. A replay plays the note without the random tones, and your response time counts from the replay.
- Read the result screen: the exact count, the semitone and further-off counts, the weighted score, your average response time, and the accuracy for each note.
Keyboard shortcuts: press c, d, e, f, g, a or b for a natural note, hold Shift for a sharp, and press r to replay.
Stop the test discards everything and returns you to the settings. On the result screen, Take a new test uses a new random seed, Same notes again repeats the same order, and Change settings goes back to the options. To share a test, add the seed shown on the result screen to the page address as ?seed=NNN.
Do I have perfect pitch?#
No single test can settle this. The test gives a weighted score, and the page compares it with two lines: guessing level and the threshold used by Athos et al. A score at or above 68.06 % (24.5 of 36 points) is at or above that threshold. A score above chance but below the threshold is reported as “above chance, below the line”. Anything lower is within what random guessing produces.
Relative pitch, instrument sound and a short test can all raise a score, so the page advises repeating the test on another day. The test also plays 7 short unrelated tones before each note. This is a design choice made for this page, not a method taken from a paper. A person with good relative pitch can answer by comparing the note with the one before it, and the unrelated tones make that earlier note harder to hold in memory. It has not been proven to remove relative pitch.
What is perfect pitch (absolute pitch)?#
Perfect pitch, also called absolute pitch, is the ability to name a note you hear on its own, without a reference tone. It differs from relative pitch, which lets you name a note by comparing it with one you already know.
The test uses the 12 pitch classes, C to B with sharps, and ignores the octave. Frequencies follow equal temperament with A4 fixed at 440 Hz, using the formula f = 440 × 2^((midi − 69) / 12). For example, A♯4 is 466.16 Hz, G4 is 392.00 Hz and C♯4 is 277.18 Hz.
How is this perfect pitch test scored?#
Each note earns 1 point for the right name, 3/4 of a point for a note one semitone away, and 0 otherwise. The semitone rule wraps around, so B counts as one semitone from C. The weighted score is the points divided by the number of notes, shown as a percentage and as a fraction such as “6.5 of 10”.
Guessing level is 20.8 % for any test length. Random guessing varies more with short tests. For 10 notes, 19 out of 20 random guessers stay below about 44 %. For 20 notes, the figure is about 37 %. In a simulation of 4000 random guessers, none reached the 68 % line.
The 68 % line comes from Athos et al. (PNAS, 2007). Their threshold belongs to a 36-note test with pure tones and a 3-second answer limit. With 10 or 20 notes, the same percentage is a weaker claim. Their participants were self-selected web volunteers, not a random sample.