Audio Reaction Time Test
Most reaction tests flash a colour. This one plays a tone. Pop your headphones on, wait, and click the moment you hear the beep. We time it to the millisecond and take the median of five tries.
Click to start
Put headphones on. When you hear the tone, click as fast as you can. Five tries, and we take the median.
What this test measures
Auditory reaction time is the gap between a sound starting and your body moving in response. It is one of the cleanest reflexes to measure because sound is processed fast: your ear converts a pressure wave into nerve signals almost mechanically, with very little of the delay that light has to go through in the eye.
In a lab, simple auditory reaction time lands around 140–160 ms. On a web test like this one you will see higher numbers, because your sound card, headphones and browser all add a little latency on top. That is normal, and it is exactly why we show you a device-lag-corrected figure rather than pretending the raw number is the whole truth.
How to get an honest reading
- Use wired headphones or speakers. Bluetooth buffers audio and will inflate your score.
- Set a comfortable volume first. Fumbling for the volume key mid-test ruins a trial.
- Don't anticipate. The delay before each tone is random on purpose. If you click before the sound, we flag it.
Curious how your ears stack up against your eyes? Take the classic visual reaction time test back to back with this one. Most people are a little quicker on sound, and seeing the gap on your own results is more convincing than any chart.