I'm shocked - I listened with my computer speakers at low volume and got 29/32 with an average response time of 0.6s.
I am surprised because I simply cannot sing - I just cannot seem to hit proper notes and always assumed I must be tone deaf. But at the same time I've always had a keen ear when it comes to listening to music. So I guess I'm not actually tone deaf, and must have some other issue when it comes to singing.
This tests for relative pitch perception, not absolute pitch that naturally gifted and trained musicians have. Vocal control involves more than that but requires the minimum of relative pitch perception. People who don’t even have relative pitch perception are the tone deaf people.
From a physiological point of view, this test isn’t just about the ability to hear in your ears. It is also how the brain registers the tone in short term memory (in the same way some people can easily register a name they heard while some forget it a few seconds after they hear it). For relative pitch, the brain needs to “remember” a tone before it can compare to another. People differ a lot in their short term memory ability. The better the registration, the smaller the intervals they can detect.
If there was a way to control the speed of playing these tones, you might find some people do better when it is faster and some when it is slower depending on their short term memory “clock rate”
Some may be much more accurate when they take longer to press the up or down but get tripped in converting difference they can perceive into up or down quickly under pressure. They can perceive a difference but cannot accurately convert to up or down action.
You can see this with people starting to play a musical instrument where they have to convert the need for a tone to action on the instrument.
If only human beings were as simple to measure as these electronics reviewed here.
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