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Keyboard Sound Test

Type and hear what four different switch types sound like. Thock, clicky, creamy or digital, generated live in your browser — no samples to download.

Now playing

Thock

Start typing. A full sentence tells you far more than a single press.

Hear the pitch range

The engine plays larger keys lower, the way a real board does. Click these in order.

Compare profiles on one key

Same key, four engines. This is the quickest way to hear the difference without changing your selection.

NoteThese are synthesized switch families, not recordings of specific switches. Case, plate, foam and keycaps account for much of how a real keyboard sounds.

What This Sound Test Actually Does

Pick a profile, then type. Every key you press plays a sound synthesized on the spot with the Web Audio API — there are no recorded samples, nothing to download, and no delay while audio files load. The sound is built from an oscillator and a burst of filtered noise, shaped to match the character of a switch family rather than to impersonate one specific switch.

Be clear about what that means, because a lot of sound tests are vague on the point. This is a simulator, not a recording. It will not tell you the difference between a Gateron Ink Black and a Cherry MX Black, and it cannot capture case resonance, plate material, foam or keycap weight — which between them account for a large share of how a real board actually sounds. What it does well is convey the broad category: whether you want the deep bottom-out of a thock, the sharp mechanical click of a tactile clicky switch, or something smooth and quiet.

The engine weights pitch by key, and it is worth listening for. The spacebar plays lowest and longest, because a physically larger key in a larger cavity resonates lower. Enter and the modifiers sit between the spacebar and the letters. Function keys play highest. Those relationships hold on real keyboards too, and hearing them here is the closest a browser gets to conveying that a keyboard is not one sound but a range of them.

The most useful thing you can do with this page is type the same sentence in each profile. Sound preference is genuinely difficult to predict from description — plenty of people who say they want clicky switches change their mind after thirty seconds of hearing one at typing speed, and the same happens in reverse. Thirty seconds per profile costs nothing and is more informative than any amount of reading.

Nothing here tests your keyboard. If you are chasing a fault rather than a sound, the full keyboard test checks every key for dead switches, the mechanical keyboard test covers switch-level behaviour, and the double typing test catches the chatter that makes a keyboard type doubled letters.

Key Capabilities & Features

Four distinct profiles

Thock, clicky, creamy and digital — each synthesized differently rather than the same sound pitched up and down.

Per-key pitch weighting

Spacebar plays lowest, function keys highest, modifiers in between — the same relationship real keyboards have.

No downloads, no samples

Sound is generated live with the Web Audio API, so there is no loading delay and no audio files to fetch.

Instant profile switching

Change profile mid-sentence and hear the difference immediately, which is the only reliable way to compare.

Demo key pad

Click through the five keys that best show the pitch range, without needing to find them on your keyboard.

Mute without leaving

One toggle silences everything if someone walks in, and the page keeps working.

How to Perform This Test

Click once on the page so the browser tab has keyboard focus and audio is allowed to start.:
Pick a profile. It plays a sample immediately so you know what you selected.:
Type a full sentence — something you know by heart. Individual presses tell you much less than typing rhythm does.:
Press the spacebar, then a letter, then F5. Listen to the pitch drop and rise: that is the per-key weighting.
Switch to a different profile and type the same sentence again. Direct comparison is far more informative than judging each one alone.:
Use the demo pad to hear specific keys without hunting for them, and mute at any time if you need silence.:

Troubleshooting Common Hardware Issues

No sound at all: browsers block audio until you interact with the page. Click anywhere first, then press a key.
Sound works then stops: some browsers suspend the audio context in a background tab. Click back into the page to resume it.
A short crackle on the first press: the audio context warming up. It settles after one or two keys.
Sound is quieter than your music: the synth is deliberately conservative to avoid clipping. Raise your system volume rather than expecting more from the page.
Ctrl and Command combinations play nothing: intentional, so browser shortcuts keep working normally.
Holding a key plays only once: auto-repeat is filtered out, which matches how a real switch behaves — the sound comes from the press, not from the repeat.
It does not sound like your keyboard: it is not meant to. This synthesizes switch families, not specific switches, and case and keycaps contribute much of a real board's sound.

What Real Switches Sound Like

Switch sound comes from three separate events, and different switch types emphasise different ones: the downstroke where the stem hits the housing, the click mechanism if there is one, and the upstroke where the spring returns the stem. Here is how the main families map onto the profiles above.

Switch type	Sound	Closest profile	Good for
Linear (Red, Black, Yellow)	Quiet, single bottom-out thud	Creamy	Shared spaces, gaming, fast typing
Tactile (Brown, Clear, Zealio)	Muted bump partway down, no click	Creamy or Thock	Typing accuracy without the noise
Clicky (Blue, White, Jade)	Loud deliberate click on every press	Clicky	Solo work, typewriter feel
Heavy lubed linear in a foamed case	Deep low thock, almost no high end	Thock	The sound most enthusiasts chase
Silent (Silent Red, Bobagum)	Almost nothing — dampened both ways	None here	Offices, calls, night typing
Optical	Similar to its mechanical equivalent	Match by feel type	Fast actuation, long life
Membrane / rubber dome	Dull mushy click, high-pitched rattle	None here	Cheap and quiet, poor feedback

Notice that thock is not a switch type. It is the result of a heavy lubed linear switch in a case with foam, a gasket mount and thick keycaps — a build characteristic rather than a part you can buy. Anyone selling you "thock switches" is selling the sound of a build, and the switch is only one contributor to it.

Choosing a Switch by Sound

Sound is the factor people regret most, because it is the one you cannot evaluate from a spec sheet and the one your colleagues and housemates also have opinions about. A few things worth knowing before you commit.

Clicky switches are louder than you expect at speed. A single press sounds satisfying. Eighty words per minute of them is roughly 400 clicks a minute, and it carries through walls. This is the single most common return reason for a first mechanical keyboard.
The case matters more than the switch. The same switch in a plastic tray-mount board and in an aluminium gasket-mount board sounds like two different products. If a specific sound is your goal, budget for the board before the switches.
Keycaps change the pitch.Thin ABS caps ring higher and hollower; thick PBT caps deaden the high end. Swapping caps is the cheapest way to move a board's sound and requires no disassembly.
Lubing quietens and deepens. A factory-dry linear switch has a spring ping and a scratchy downstroke. The same switch lubed loses both. It is tedious work but it costs almost nothing.
The spacebar is usually the loudest key on the board. Its stabilisers rattle if they are dry. If a keyboard sounds good except for one obnoxious key, that is the one, and the fix is stabiliser lube rather than a new switch.
If you share a room, test silent switches before anything else. No profile on this page can represent them, because their defining quality is the absence of sound. They feel slightly mushier in exchange.

A practical order of operations: use this page to decide which broad family appeals, then find video sound tests of specific switches in a case similar to the one you plan to buy, and only then order. The profiles here narrow the field from dozens of options to two or three; recordings of real builds close the rest of the gap.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a keyboard sound test?

A tool that plays switch-like sounds as you type, so you can hear what a switch family sounds like before buying one. This page synthesizes four profiles live in the browser rather than playing recordings, so there is nothing to download.

What does "thock" mean?

Thock is the deep, low, muted bottom-out sound enthusiasts chase. It is not a switch you can buy — it comes from a heavy lubed linear switch in a case with foam, a gasket mount and thick keycaps. The switch is only one contributor.

Are these real switch recordings?

No, and it matters. Every sound is generated from an oscillator and filtered noise using the Web Audio API. That makes profile switching instant and the page tiny, but it means the sounds represent switch families rather than specific switch models.

Which switch type is quietest?

Silent switches like Silent Reds or Bobagums, which have dampening on both the downstroke and the upstroke. No profile here can represent them, because their defining quality is the near-absence of sound. Standard linears are the quietest of the non-silent options.

Why does the spacebar sound different from the letters?

Because it does on real keyboards too. A larger key in a larger cavity resonates lower and longer, so the engine here plays the spacebar about a third lower in pitch than a letter, with Enter and the modifiers in between.

Are clicky switches too loud for an office?

For a shared office, usually yes. A single click sounds appealing, but eighty words per minute produces roughly 400 clicks a minute and it carries. Type a full paragraph in the clicky profile here and judge from that rather than from one press.

Why is there no sound in my browser?

Browsers require a user interaction before allowing audio. Click anywhere on the page, then press a key. If it still fails, check that the tab is not muted — most browsers show a speaker icon on the tab when it is.

Can I use this to test whether my keyboard works?

It plays a sound for every key that reaches the browser, so silence does indicate a dead key — but the full keyboard test is the right tool for that, because it records which keys you have confirmed rather than relying on you noticing an absence.

Keyboard Layouts

Hardware Diagnostics

Individual Key Tests

Speed & Sound