Free · no microphone · two to four minutes
How long a melody can you hold?
A short tune plays twice. Same, or did one note move? Get it right and the next tune is a note longer. Two misses and you hear the longest melody you held.
A moved note stays in the key, so nothing sounds wrong: you have to remember the tune. Headphones help. On an iPhone the silent switch mutes the tones.
3 notes
Were the two melodies the same?
What this tests
Memory for a tune you have never heard: how many new notes you can keep in your head long enough to compare them with a second playing. It is the skill behind singing a line back, learning a song by ear, or noticing a cover changed the melody. Short-term memory holds only a handful of new things at once, so every note you add is harder than the one before, for everybody.
How it works
Each round plays a tune in a major key, then plays it again. Half the time it comes back the same; half the time one note, never the first, moves up or down within the key, so the second version sounds just as right as the first. Get it right and the next tune is one note longer, from three up to twelve. A miss keeps the length; the second miss ends the test. The tones come from your browser, so nothing is downloaded and nothing leaves your phone.
Questions
Is a short result bad?
No. Same or different is half chance, so one round can go either way, and headphones, a quiet room and a rested evening all add notes. Take it again; it is a quick look, not a measurement of you.
Is this a hearing test?
No. It checks how you remember tunes, not how quiet a sound you can hear. If you think your hearing is getting worse, see an audiologist or your doctor.
How do I get better at it?
Sing the tune back in your head while it plays, and notice its shape: where it goes up, where it lands. Singing short lines out loud helps most. Sing a note and see where it lands, or hum a line into Brumm and hear it become a track.
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