Vocal Range Test — Find Voice Type

A vocal range test finds the lowest and highest notes you can comfortably sustain, then maps that span in semitones and octaves to a classical voice type. Microphone pitch detection runs in your browser with the Web Audio API; nothing is uploaded or stored.

How to use it

1. Warm up first. Three to five minutes of gentle humming, lip trills and slow sirens on an “ng” or “oo” make the test safer and more accurate. A cold voice will not reach its real limits.
2. Pick a mode. Guided 2-Step Test (the default) walks you through a lowest note and then a highest note; Freeform Singing Mode tracks whatever you sing and keeps the widest span it hears.
3. Press Start Vocal Test (Mic) and allow access. The status bar confirms the microphone is live. Sing a sustained vowel such as “ah” or “oo” at a comfortable volume.
4. Hold your lowest comfortable note for 1 to 2 seconds. The live panel shows the detected note, frequency in hertz, clarity and cents. When the pitch is stable, the tool flags the candidate and you press Lock Low Note & Proceed.
5. Sing up to your highest clear note and hold it. Use head voice or a controlled falsetto rather than forcing chest voice. The tool locks a stable note in roughly 250 to 300 ms, and Lock High Note & See Results finishes the run.
6. Read the result. The results panel lists your low and high notes with frequencies, the total span in octaves and semitones, and your closest Fach matches with overlap percentages. Reset Range clears everything and starts over.

The six classical voice types

Classical pedagogy sorts voices into six Fachs by comfortable range and tessitura. The table shows the working ranges the classifier scores you against, with frequencies at A4 = 440 Hz.

Voice type	Working range	Frequencies	Tessitura
Bass	E2–E4	82.4–329.6 Hz	G2–C4
Baritone	A2–A4	110.0–440.0 Hz	C3–E4
Tenor	C3–C5	130.8–523.3 Hz	E3–G4
Contralto	F3–F5	174.6–698.5 Hz	A3–D5
Mezzo-Soprano	A3–A5	220.0–880.0 Hz	C4–F5
Soprano	C4–C6	261.6–1046.5 Hz	E4–A5

The classifier reports overlap rather than a verdict, so a voice that spans two categories gets a score for each. The male and female groupings in the table follow choral convention, and plenty of singers sit between categories or sing in a range that does not match their speaking voice.

Range, tessitura and what the numbers mean

A semitone is the smallest step in 12-tone equal temperament, 12 of them make an octave, and each semitone divides into 100 cents. That makes the arithmetic simple: a span of A2 to A4 is 24 semitones, or exactly two octaves, and an E2 to E4 span is the same 24 semitones. The results panel counts both so you can compare your span against the Fach table without converting anything.

Tessitura is the narrower band where the voice sits most naturally, the part you could sing for a whole rehearsal without fatigue. A wide range with a narrow comfortable centre is normal, and it is often the reason two singers with the same total span are cast differently. The test measures what your voice can produce on the day, not its ceiling: range shifts with warm-up, time of day, hydration and fatigue, so a second run on another day can differ by a semitone or two.

Reading the live display and the results

• The live panel shows the detected note name, frequency to one decimal in hertz, clarity as a percentage, and the cents error. Clarity has to reach 82% and stay stable across four consecutive frames before a note counts; the auto-lock hint appears after roughly 15 stable frames.
• The piano keyboard covers C2 to C7 (MIDI 36 to 96). Click any key to hear a warm reference tone for that note, which is useful for finding a pitch by ear before you sing it.
• Demo presets for Baritone and Soprano run a simulated range through the full flow, so you can see how the classification and overlap bars behave before testing your own voice.
• Results are saved on this device, so you can come back and compare a later run. The share button exports the same numbers as an image card; the audio itself never leaves the browser.
• The microphone path accepts roughly 55 Hz to 1600 Hz, which covers the bass low range up to soprano high notes with margin.

Accuracy, limits and troubleshooting

• Warm up, and never force a note. The test is a measurement, not a training exercise. Stop if you feel tension, hoarseness or strain in your throat, and if a pitch hurts, it is outside the range you should be recording.
• One voice at a time. The detector locks onto a single fundamental, so a backing track, a duet or a ringing instrument will confuse it. Sing unaccompanied.
• Room noise gates the reading. Clarity below 82% is ignored, which is deliberate. Move away from fans, air conditioning and computer fans, and avoid a very reverberant room where the microphone hears your voice twice.
• This is not a hearing or medical assessment. The tool describes the notes you sang; it cannot diagnose vocal fold health, nodules or any other condition. If you are concerned about your voice or your hearing, see a qualified professional.
• System audio processing can interfere. macOS Voice Isolation and Windows input enhancements may suppress sustained notes; disable them if the clarity reading stays low.
• Results vary between runs. Warm-up, fatigue, microphone distance and the vowel you choose all move the result by a few semitones. Track the trend across several sessions rather than treating one number as definitive.
• A high note must be musical, not noisy. Screaming or fry can register as a pitch without being a usable singing note; the clarity gate filters some of this, but your own judgement matters more.

Related tools

• Instrument Tuner — check any single pitch against a reference and see the cents error live.
• Pitch Pipe — play reference pitches to find starting notes before you sing.
• Ear Training — practise intervals, chords and pitch matching between sessions.
• Audio Frequency Check: play stepped tones and see where your hearing tops out.