Interval Ear Training

Interval ear training asks you to recognize the musical distance between two pitches without relying on a written score. This practice page opens the full Ear Training specialist, where the tones are synthesized locally in the browser rather than loaded from recordings.

What an interval is

An interval is the pitch distance between two notes. In twelve-tone equal temperament, moving one semitone changes frequency by a factor of 2^(1/12); moving twelve semitones reaches the octave, whose frequency ratio is 2:1. The game uses that exact relationship to generate every prompt.

Melodic versus harmonic listening

Melodic practice plays one pitch and then the other. Ascending trials move upward, while descending trials move downward. Harmonic trials sound both pitches together. These presentations can feel very different even when the underlying semitone distance is identical, so the specialist keeps them available as separate drills and as a mixed session.

How difficulty changes

Easy uses a compact group of commonly taught intervals so the answer grid stays approachable. Standard adds close semitone neighbors and the tritone. Challenge exposes every interval from a minor second through the octave. Difficulty changes only the answer set and session length; it does not invent a percentile, rank or diagnostic score.

Replay and feedback

Replay is intentionally allowed because repeated listening is normal practice. The game records replay count but still considers the run Clean. A Hint is different: it reveals the semitone distance, so the session is clearly stored as Assisted. After each answer, the correct interval name is shown before you move to the next round.

Reference pitch and device audio

The Reference A4 control plays 440 Hz as a stable pitch check. It is not the answer and does not reveal the current root note. Speaker quality, headphone response, volume and background noise can change how intervals sound, which is why personal results should be interpreted as practice history rather than a hearing measurement.

Deterministic Practice

Practice URLs include a seed. The same seed, difficulty and playback type reproduce the same sequence of interval classes, roots and directions. That makes a shared practice link repeatable and also lets the independent verifier regenerate thousands of sessions outside the user interface.

What the verifier checks

The verifier recomputes note frequencies, semitone ratios, allowed MIDI ranges, interval labels and deterministic session output. It also validates 6,000 seeded Practice sessions and every 2026 Daily Ear Training date. The application cannot turn an invalid prompt into a pass simply by displaying a success message.

Use it as a short routine

A practical session can be brief: play the interval, choose an answer, read the correction, then replay if you want to compare what you expected with what you heard. Standard Mixed is a useful broad drill, while a single playback style is better when you want to isolate one listening problem.

What this exercise does not claim

This is a music-learning activity. It is not a medical hearing test, an attention test, an IQ test or a diagnostic tool. The site does not estimate a hearing threshold or fabricate population percentiles from browser performance.

Continue with Daily Ear Training

If you want one fixed session per day, Daily Ear Training uses a date-stable twelve-round mixed drill and keeps its streak and history separate from the platform's frozen Today’s 6 lineup.