432 Hz Tuning (A4)
432.00 Hz
Nearest note: A4, 32 cents below standard tuning
A real way of tuning. Every note comes out about 32 cents lower than in standard tuning, a third of a piano-key step. The claims that it is healthier or more natural are not established.
How well is this supported?
A claim that has not been established. Evidence is missing, weak, or limited to small studies.
A = 432 Hz is a real way of tuning that some musicians use. The claims made for it are not established.
The button plays a plain tone. Start with the volume low.
About this number
A way of tuning in which the A above middle C is set to 432 Hz instead of the standard 440 Hz. The difference is 32 cents, about a third of the step between two neighboring piano keys: every note comes out slightly lower. In Hans Cousto’s tables, which planet gongs are tuned to, the Earth-year tone implies a concert pitch of A = 432.10 Hz. That is one reason gong players meet this number.
What is said about it
What is said, not what was measured
Proponents say music at 432 Hz sounds warmer and more natural, and some claim it is healthier or mathematically tied to nature. What has been tested: two small studies, of 33 and 54 people, compared music at 432 and 440 Hz. The first reported a slightly lower heart rate at 432 Hz. In the second, anxiety fell by a similar amount in every group, including the group that heard no music.
History
Giuseppe Verdi supported the French standard of A = 435 Hz, then argued for A = 432 Hz as more comfortable for singers. He had the case made at a congress in Milan in 1881. He argued for an agreed standard, not for health or nature. An international conference in Vienna in 1885 adopted 435 Hz.
Facts
- Frequency
- 432.00 Hz
- Wavelength in air (20 °C)
- 79.4 cm
- Nearest note
- A4, 32 cents below standard tuning
- Kind of statement
- Claimed frequency
- Filed under
- Claimed frequencies
Sources
- Concert pitch, Verdi, and studies of 432 Hz
The history of the 432 Hz proposal, and the two small studies that compared 432 with 440 Hz.
E. Lockhart, Nineteenth-Century Music Review 22 (2025) 344–360. D. Calamassi and G. P. Pomponi, Explore 15 (2019) 283–290. D. Calamassi et al. (2022), PMID 35545982.
View source: Concert pitch, Verdi, and studies of 432 Hz
More about the pitch
The same note in every octave
Each step doubles or halves the frequency. Tap one to hear it.
Entries close in pitch
Within 35 cents of this tone, in any octave. A cent is one hundredth of the step between two neighboring piano keys. Being close in pitch does not mean two things are connected.