Background
This audio file tests whether your ears are properly connected... to your brain. Not really a test tone, but a sonic brainteaser ;-)
The Sound File
| The Shepard Tone |
The file starts with a steady tone which then increases in pitch and ends in a steady state again. Although the pitch has been continuously increasing, the beginning and the end of the file do sound exactly the same. How can it be?
The Shepard Tone explained
This sonic illusion was invented by psychologist Roger Shepard at Bell Labs. The trick is done by simultaneously sweeping different pure tones (i.e. sine waves) tuned exactly one octave apart, fading in at one end of the cycle and fading out at the other. The human brain has a hard time figuring out if a pure tone is a fundamental or the harmonic of another and easily "slips" between those two point of views.
Related pages
Our brown noise sample file has been generated using wavTones' professional grade Noise Generator.
Help Me Help You!
Is AudioCheck free? Not for me. Your support keeps this site running. Any donation will be rewarded with • uncompressed .wav file download for every test (a download arrow will appear next to each sound icon) • increased durations and sample rates up to 192 kHz in the Tone Gen section • and, best of all, the removal of these pesky payment buttons below 😜
If you already are a patron, please log in.
Pure (Sine) Tones
Noises
Impulse
Dynamic
Higher Sample Rates (up to 192 kHz)
