Free visual tracking game — instant play, no signup, no download
Sound Direction plays a short beep and asks where it came from: left, centre or right. The direction is created by stereo panning, which makes the tone louder in one ear than the other, so the game only works properly with headphones or a pair of stereo speakers. A game is 20 tones and three lives, and after every five correct answers the side tones move a little closer to the middle. It is a quick listening drill rather than a hearing test, and it pairs well with Audio Tone Memory, which uses your ears for memory instead of direction.
Put on headphones and press Start.
A short beep plays, about half a second long, from the left, the centre or the right. Each direction is equally likely.
When it finishes, choose LEFT, CENTER or RIGHT. Press Replay tone first if you want to hear it again; there is no time limit.
A wrong answer costs one of three lives. After every five correct answers the level rises and the side tones are panned less far.
The game ends after 20 tones or three mistakes. Your score is the number you got right, out of 20.
A game is 20 tones. Each is a half-second sine beep with a random pitch between 440 and 540 Hz, played from the left, centre or right with equal chance. Side tones are panned 90% to one side until you have 15 correct answers, then 60%.
Each correct answer scores one point; a wrong answer costs one of three lives, and the third ends the game early. You can replay a tone as often as you like before answering. Your score is the number correct out of 20, and your best is saved in this browser.
Telling direction from the difference in loudness between your two ears. Real-world hearing uses both a loudness difference and a tiny timing difference between the ears to judge where a sound is; this game uses loudness only, which listeners can still use on its own. It is attention to a single cue, practised in short bursts. For a broader set of sound-based games, try Audio Word Memory. Another tracking game to try next: Hidden Coin.
Working out where a sound comes from on the horizontal plane relies on comparing the two ears. In their 1991 review, Middlebrooks and Green summarised the process: the left–right position of a source is judged from differences in arrival time or intensity between the ears, whichever is present, while height is judged from how the outer ear shapes the sound's spectrum.
This game uses only the intensity cue. Its tones are panned in stereo, which changes how loud they are in each channel without adding a timing difference, so headphones are needed to deliver each channel to one ear. The same review notes that turning the head gives only a modest gain in accuracy, which is one reason a seated, headphone-based test still works.
Check that your headphones are on the right ears. If you keep getting left and right exactly reversed, the left earpiece is on your right ear.
Turn off mono audio. Phones and computers have an accessibility setting that mixes both channels together; with it on, every tone sounds like it is in the centre.
Centre means equally loud in both ears, not quiet. Ask yourself "which ear got more?" — if neither, answer CENTER.
Ignore the pitch. Each beep gets a random pitch between about 440 and 540 Hz, and it says nothing about direction.
Use Replay tone whenever you are unsure. It is free, and a second listen beats a guess.
Levels 1–3 (your first 15 correct answers). Side tones are panned 90% of the way to one ear, so with headphones left and right are unmistakable. Mistakes here nearly always come from the setup — speakers, swapped earpieces or mono audio — so fix that before blaming your ears.
Levels 4–5 (from your 15th correct answer). Side tones are panned 60% of the way, so a left tone now sounds left of centre rather than in your left ear. Keep comparing the two ears, and replay any tone that sounds nearly central. This is the narrowest setting a 20-tone game reaches.
Playing on speakers. Laptop speakers sit close together, and many phones play stereo through a single speaker or play everything in mono. Expect centre and side to blur; headphones make the game the test it is meant to be.
The game makes a sound come from one side by playing it louder in that channel. Headphones deliver each channel to one ear; speakers let both ears hear both channels, which shrinks the difference.
You can, but many phones play stereo through one speaker or in mono, and then every tone sounds central. Use headphones for a meaningful score.
No. Each beep gets a random pitch between roughly 440 and 540 Hz so that you cannot use it as a clue. Only the left–right balance carries the answer.
No. The buttons appear when the beep ends, and you can replay it as often as you like before answering.
With headphones and correct settings, 20 out of 20 is achievable, because there are only three positions. Repeated mistakes usually point to the audio setup.
No. It is a game and its score means nothing diagnostically. If you notice that one ear consistently seems weaker in everyday life, an audiologist can test it properly.