Tone deafness test

From WikiCover

Researchers have found that only one in twenty people truly has amusia, the technical term for tone deafness. Tests have shown that some people with bad singing voices hear music just fine. Amusics are a smaller group with a perceptual problem: They can't pick out differences in pitch or follow the simplest tunes, reports the September 2007 issue of the Harvard Health Letter.

Brain scans haven't revealed major anatomical differences in amusics, but more sophisticated tests have uncovered some subtle variations. In a study comparing amusics to people with normal musical ability, researchers used a brain imaging and statistical technique to measure the density of the white matter (which consists of connecting nerve fibers) between the right frontal lobe, where higher thinking occurs, and the right temporal lobes, where basic processing of sound occurs. The white matter of the amusics was thinner, which suggests a weaker connection. Moreover, the worse the tone deafness, the thinner the white matter.

To test your ability to perceive music, an online test was developed by researchers at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England.

The test involves two batches of thirty musical pairs, some of which are the same and some of which are slightly different. You are asked to identify which the pair was.

Website: http://www.delosis.com/listening/