Can you sing in tune? This free pitch accuracy test plays a note, listens while you sing it back and shows exactly how many cents sharp or flat you were.
After 5 to 20 notes you get a score out of 100, how many notes were in tune, whether you tend to sing sharp or flat and how steady your notes were. The second tab is a fine pitch hearing test: pick which of two tones is higher to find the smallest pitch difference you can hear.
Pitch Accuracy Test
Hear a note, sing it back and see how many cents sharp or flat you were. Or test your ear: can you tell which of two tones is higher?
A note plays; sing it back on “ah” and hold it steadily for about a second. Headphones help, so the microphone hears only you.
Press Start and allow microphone access. Sound is analysed in your browser; nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Top bar: microphone level · bottom bar: hold the note until it fills
Your pitch accuracy
- Accuracy score
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- Notes in tune
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- Average error
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- Sharp or flat?
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- Steadiness
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- Settings
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| # | Target | You sang | Cents | Result |
|---|
Two short tones play. Choose whether the second tone was higher or lower than the first. Each right answer makes the next pair closer together, until the test finds the smallest pitch difference you can hear. It takes 2–3 minutes. Use headphones in a quiet room.
No microphone needed. Set a comfortable volume first.
Your pitch hearing
- Smallest difference you can hear
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- At A4 (440 Hz) that is
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- Pairs answered
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- Correct answers
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A guide for practice, not a medical or hearing test. Sing gently and stop if anything feels strained.
Related Tools
- Pitch Detector
See your note, Hz and cents live while you practise any note.
- Interval Ear Training
Train your ear to recognise the distance between two notes.
- Tone Generator
Play any reference pitch to sing along with.
- Vocal Warm-Up Generator
Warm up before testing, for steadier notes.
- Note Identifier
Name every note you sing, in order.
- Voice Range Test
Find your lowest and highest notes, then test in the right range.
How to Take the Pitch Accuracy Test
- On the Sing the note tab, choose your voice: lower, middle or higher. The target notes come from that range, so you never have to strain.
- Choose what counts as in tune: Relaxed (±30 cents), Standard (±20 cents) or Strict (±10 cents), and how many notes to sing.
- Press Start singing test and allow microphone access. A note plays. When it stops, sing it back on “ah” and hold it steadily.
- When the bottom bar fills (about one second of steady singing), the note is scored. Press Next note to continue, or Replay note if you need to hear it again.
- After the last note, read your results and press Copy result to save them.
Men can sing a note an octave lower than written and women an octave higher. With Accept the same note in any octave ticked, that still counts as a match, which is how singers match pitch in real life. Untick it for a strict pitch matching test in the exact octave.
The Fine Pitch Test: Higher or Lower?
The Hear the difference tab tests your ear, not your voice, so it needs no microphone. It plays two short tones, and you choose whether the second was higher or lower. It starts with a gap of 100 cents (one semitone). Every two correct answers make the gap smaller, and every mistake makes it bigger. After 8 turning points the test settles on the smallest pitch difference you can reliably hear: your pitch discrimination threshold.
Each pair starts on a different random pitch, so you have to compare the two tones rather than remember a single note. Use headphones in a quiet room for a fair result. The test takes 2–3 minutes.
How Your Pitch Accuracy Is Scored
Pitch accuracy is measured in cents: one semitone (the step between two neighbouring piano keys) is 100 cents. The test finds the centre of the note you held, ignoring the first moment when many singers slide into a note, and compares it with the target.
| How far off | What it sounds like | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 cents | Spot on: no one can hear a difference | 100 |
| about 10 cents | Very close: in tune for almost any listener | 89 |
| about 20 cents | Close: attentive listeners may notice | 67 |
| about 35 cents | Clearly sharp or flat | 33 |
| 50 cents or more | Halfway to the next note, or a wrong note | 0 |
Your accuracy score is the average of your points across all notes, so a note that isn’t heard, or is skipped, counts as 0. The needle and the note names use standard tuning with A4 = 440 Hz. To see how cents relate to hertz, try the frequency finder.
Understanding Your Results
- Accuracy score (out of 100): how close you were on average, for a single number you can compare over time.
- Notes in tune: how many notes landed within your chosen tolerance.
- Average error: the average distance from the target in cents, whether sharp or flat.
- Sharp or flat? Whether you consistently sing above the note (sharp) or below it (flat). One consistent direction is easier to fix than random errors.
- Steadiness: how much the pitch wobbled while you held each note. Vibrato is allowed, because the test measures the centre of the note.
- Note table: every target, what you sang, and the result, so you can spot notes or parts of your range that are harder.
What Is a Good Pitch Accuracy Score?
| Singing score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 90–100 | Excellent: nearly every note right in tune |
| 75–89 | Good: most notes in tune or very close |
| 50–74 | Fair: usually close, with some notes drifting |
| Below 50 | Needs practice: many notes a quarter-semitone or more off |
| Hearing result | What it means |
|---|---|
| 6 cents or less | Very fine pitch hearing, typical of trained musicians |
| 6–20 cents | Normal pitch hearing for adults |
| 20–50 cents | Slightly coarse; ear training usually improves it quickly |
| 50–100 cents | Coarse; differences under about a semitone are hard to hear |
| 100 cents or more | Difficulty hearing a semitone difference (see “Am I tone deaf?” below) |
There is no single official standard for either result. What counts as in tune also depends on the music and the listener. As a guide, a difference of 10–25 cents is where many listeners start to hear that a held note is off.
Pitch Matching vs Perfect Pitch
This is a pitch matching test: you hear a note and sing it back. That skill is called relative pitch, and almost everyone can train it. Perfect pitch (absolute pitch) is the rare ability to name or sing a note with no reference at all, for example singing an A without hearing one first. A high score here means you match pitch well, not that you have perfect pitch. To practise naming notes, sing along with the note identifier or practise with interval ear training.
Am I Tone Deaf?
Probably not. True tone deafness, called congenital amusia, affects only a small minority of people, with estimates from about 1.5% to 4%. Research on “poor-pitch singers” has found that most people who struggle to sing in tune hear pitch normally. The difficulty is in linking what they hear to what their voice does, and that improves with practice (Pfordresher & Brown, 2007).
The two tabs help you tell these apart. If your singing score is low but your hearing result is under about 20 cents, your ear is fine and your voice needs practice. If you can’t hear differences of a semitone or more, even with headphones in a quiet room, that can be a sign of amusia, which a hearing or music specialist can assess. This test is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Why You Sing Sharp or Flat
- Singing flat: often low breath support or tiredness, especially at the end of phrases. See breath support for singers.
- Singing sharp: often tension or pushing too hard, especially on high notes and when you’re nervous or excited.
- Posture: a collapsed chest or a raised chin makes pitch harder to control. See the best posture for singing.
- Not hearing yourself: loud backing tracks and a loud room make everyone drift. Keep one ear free, or sing more quietly.
- Notes outside your comfortable range: if the edges of your range are less accurate, choose a different voice setting and build range slowly.
How to Improve Your Pitch Accuracy
- Warm up for 5–10 minutes first. A vocal warm-up routine makes pitch noticeably steadier.
- Sing a note, then check it on the pitch detector. Adjust slowly until the needle is centred, and hold it there.
- Practise short intervals and scales against a reference tone, then take the reference away and check yourself.
- Sing songs in a key that suits your voice; the song key finder helps you choose one.
- Practise little and often. Ten focused minutes a day beat one long session a week (see how to practise singing effectively).
- Retest weekly with the same settings and compare your score and average error.
For a full training plan, read how to improve pitch accuracy and how to sing on key. If your steadiness result shows a lot of wobble, controlled vibrato is a skill in its own right.
Tips for an Accurate Result
- Use headphones so the microphone hears only your voice, not the target tone or the room.
- Test in a quiet room, holding your phone or microphone at about arm’s length.
- Sing on an open vowel like “ah” at a comfortable volume. Humming and whispering are harder to measure.
- Pick the voice setting that matches your range. If you’re not sure, take the voice type test first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is pitch accuracy in singing?
Pitch accuracy is how close the notes you sing are to the notes you’re aiming for. It’s measured in cents, where 100 cents is one semitone. Accurate singers stay within a few cents of the target on held notes.
Can pitch accuracy be learned?
Yes. Pitch matching improves with regular practice and feedback, such as singing against a reference tone and checking yourself with a pitch detector. Most people improve noticeably within a few weeks.
What is a fine pitch test?
A fine pitch test measures the smallest difference in pitch you can hear between two tones. The Hear the difference tab does this with higher-or-lower pairs and gives your result in cents.
Is my voice recorded?
No. Sound is analysed in your browser as you sing and is never recorded or uploaded. The hearing test doesn’t use the microphone at all.
Does the pitch accuracy test work on my phone?
Yes, in current mobile browsers such as Chrome and Safari. Allow microphone access when asked, and use headphones for the best results.