A test for tone- deafness

[jons]

Try it out!

I scored 75% on my first go, but I wasn't concentrating. On my second go I scored 83.3%. Apparently "excellent musicians rarely score above 80% correct".

I would guess someone like Hayley would score in the 90s.

[Richard]

Thanks for an interesting topic, Jon!

I scored 80.6%, which is above average. I know I'm not tone deaf, so the ones I got wrong would indicate a failure to memorise the phrase correctly.

Best Wishes,

Richard

[graemek]

Very interesting Jon. & Richard.
I've often wondered about this.

......My first go resulted in 69.4%
My second go resulted in 72.2% (concentrating, eyes shut)

I'm totally deaf in my right ear (since 1989) but all the frequences are there in my left ear. Prettywell negligible loss. I've always enjoyed music but mostly its been instrumental.

My music teacher in 1st year high school grabbed me & one other kid to ask us: Is that the best you can do? after the whole class (about 40 of us) had sung together & he'd gone around listening to us individually while we sang.

When our 2 boys were about 7 or 8 they begged us to stop singing to them. We did. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Well, Hayley can sing & I'm sure this test would find her with a
score around 200
Graemek

[Raymond]

My result is not very good. I find that I was very tired after doing about 20 of the questions, but there were still 16 left. So I was not concentrated in the remaining 16 and this may affect my result. I will do it again later.

Raymond

[nicola]

I think I'm tone deaf, I can't take the test yet, but I will later on at Uni.

My family are nortorious for our lack of singing talent. I am not very gifted at all when it comes to music, just an avid listener. I tend to notice when singers sing out of tune though, so maybe it's not as hopeless and I imagine. We will see.

[nicola]

By the way, I did this eventually and I got 64%. Higher than I expected! I wasn't concentrating much (it was far too boring), but I know I haven't a great ear for different keys and phrases anyway.

If it was the voice it used I may have done better (as it is the voice I listen to the most in music).

[Oksana]

Interesting test... I got 66.7%. I used to belong to choir... yikes! I don't even want to know what I sounded like!

The average for HWI so far is 73.2%. Good job, guys!

[Jenny A]

wow, it's very difficult to focus during the entire thing. I found my mind wandering and thinking how annoying the electronic music was.
my score was 74.4%

<3 Jenny

[martindn]

Not seen this before, and it took me a few "Questions" before I got the hang of it. I still got 83.3%. Wow! But then I've always had a good ear for music, it the voice that is the problem! I might try again and see if I can improve on it (my score that is).

Well,I've tried again. 88.9% this time!

Martin

[david]

An excellent score there Martin! Just noticed this myself and decided to have a try, scored 91.7% which works out as 33 out of 36! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif Quite tricky it has to be said, even for someone like myself with a good ear for music, and difficult to keep your concentration throughout.

David

[Oksana]

I've just redone the test and my score only rose by 3%.

Just curious, does being almost-tonedeaf mean that you miss out on certain nuances in music? For insance, when David listens to Hayley, does he hear more than I can?

[martindn]

Ho Oksana,

I don't think tone deafness has anything to do with what your ears hear, only with how your brain interprets it.

I think a good ear for music does mean that we can appreciate Hayley's wonderful precise pitch control. I find that after listening to Hayley, most other singers sound out of tune. It is just that Hayley hits the notes very accurately, and others a bit less so. This has sometimes spoiled my appreciation of other singers that I otherwise enjoy, for example Sarah Brightman.
So I would say that I am more critical than some people, but it doesn't mean I hear any more.
The thing that might affect what you hear is the range of frequencies that your ears can hear. This varies from person to person. When I was Hayley's age, I remember a number of us tested our hearing frequency range in an electronics lab at uni, and at that time I could hear up to around 21.5 KHz, which is pretty good. Some others struggled to get to 15KHZ. Of course, I'm sure I can't hear those frequencies now - hearing deteriorates with age, so slowly that you don't notice it.
There might be some harmonics in Hayley's voice that get up to these high frequencies, but the fundamental notes never get near of course. But perhaps the so-called "purity" of Hayley's voice indicates a lack of harmonics (not a complete lack I am sure).

Perhaps the other thing to remember is that some people can hear frequencies very close to half the sample rate that is used on CDs, which corresponds to the highest frequency the medium can reproduce.

Martin

[david]

Hi Oksana & Martin,

An interesting question there Oksana... not sure if I necessarily hear any more than other people do, as Martin has said I think having a good musical ear means I appreciate Hayley's voice because it appeals to my sense of pitch and melody, if that makes sense. Indeed it was her incredible pitch control as well as the wonderful purity of the sound she makes that really struck me the first time I heard her singing.

Cheers

David

[martindn]

Hi David and Oksana,

This has got me thinking about the different ways peoples brains are wired. For example, I have always had a sound and word oriented way of thinking, rather than a predominantly visual way. I think in sounds and words rather than pictures. I find myself wondering if this is related to results in this test.
I think sound oriented people have a musical ear, but are also good with words and languages. But if you are like me, you can't draw for toffee, and find it more difficult that "visual" people to recognise faces, especially in photos. I find things by remembering where I put them, rather than looking, which annoys my wife since she works the other way round, and is "visually oriented".
Oksana, I suspect you fall into the "visual" category, since I know you can draw very well. David, do you recognise yourself in my decription of "sound oriented"?

Martin

[matt]

66.7% and i wasn't really trying. im prety good at picking out a single sounds tho, i was at walmart the other day with a friend, and i went to go get something well she left where she said she was going to stay. but i was able to find her voice over everyone elses. at the time built we had the 3rd biggest wal mart in the world it covers 5 acres of land. i was in the back she was in the front. i guess all those years of being able to hear a flute player play her notes while 3 snares and 5 bass drums are behind my ear by only 2 feet has payed off.