Talking Tuner

HotPaw Talking Tuner is a hands-off, sound-activated, talking musical instrument tuner. It talks to tell you if you are in tune or not, so you don't even have to look at it. Talking Tuner uses built-in speech synthesis, and thus does not require that VoiceOver be enabled.

We received a request to develop an iPhone app which could help a vision-challenged individual tune their musical instrument. This is the result. Talking Tuner can assist someone in tuning a musical instrument without having to look at or touch their iPhone's display.

With the Auto-Speak switch turned on, Talking Tuner will listen for a note to be played, and then, after waiting for the end of the sound (so as not to talk over it), will speak the note name, and how many cents sharp or flat the end of the note is estimated to be.

Using headphones may help make it easier to hear what this app is saying while tuning. Make sure to turn the volume up high enough to hear it.

The pitch estimation algorithm works best for notes between 2 octaves below Middle-C to 2 octaves above Middle-C. It may not work as well for very low notes, very high notes, or with any background noise, harmony, or accompaniment present. The default tuning resolution is about +- 3 cents (3/100ths of the pitch difference between semitones). Optional higher resolution tuning settings may result in a slower tuning response.