Profile of Music Perception Skills (PROMS)

Researchers have long been interested in measuring musical skills objectively, but the task faces several challenges. A workaround solution is to rely on musicianship status as a way to determine musical competence. However, this approach has an important limitation in that it cannot identify musical talent in musically untrained individuals.

To counteract this limitation, we developed the Profile of Music Perception Skills (PROMS; Law & Zentner, 2012). The PROMS is a novel musical test battery that measures perceptual musical skills objectively across multiple modalities, such as timbre, tuning, melody, pitch, rhythm, and tempo.

Three shorter versions of the test are now also available, the Short-PROMS, the Mini-PROMS (Zentner & Strauss, 2017), and the Micro-PROMS (Strauss, Reiche, Dick & Zentner, 2023). Next to being more time-effective, the new versions feature improvements to the online-interface and additional evidence in support of test validity and reliability. An additional strength is a novel feature called Modular-PROMS, which offers researchers the possibility to request customized batteries that may include any combination of the subtests.

The PROMS is available in various versions and languages (e.g., English, German, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese). You are welcome to use the test for research purposes or to take it yourself and receive a feedback-profile on your music perception skills.

Explore the PROMS

We are constantly developing the PROMS to tailor test versions to your needs. All our current test versions are listed below.
Click on them to learn more and take the test yourself.

Micro-PROMS
- the screener -

Duration:    10 min.
Subtests:    N/A

Mini-PROMS
- the quick one -

Duration:    15 min.
Subtests:    4

PROMS-S
- the allrounder -

Duration:    35 min.
Subtests:    8

Modular-PROMS
- the flexible one -

Duration:    N/A
Subtests:    1 − 9

> available soon!

Full-PROMS
- the original -

Duration:    60 min.
Subtests:    9

Use the PROMS in Your Own Research

If you would like to use the PROMS battery in your academic research project, we can set up a researcher account for you. This will enable
you to use the battery to collect your own data.

How It Works

1.

Download the User Agreement Form

Download the PROMS User Agreement Form.

2.

Send the User Agreement Form

Send the completed and signed agreement form together with a brief description (about 250 words) of the project in which you want to use the PROMS to .

This description should include a short paragraph about: a) the aims of the study, b) the prospective sample size, c) the procedure, and d) the anticipated implications the results. Please also let us know which version(s) of the PROMS you want to use in your project.

3.

Receive Your Own PROMS Research Account

Upon approval of your request, you will receive an unique URL that provides access to your own PROMS research account. We do our best to proceed your requests as quickly as possible – however, please note that it might take a few days until you receive an
answer.

Benefits of the PROMS Research Account

  • You can extend the PROMS by adding questions or questionnaires that are of interest to you.
  • Data are securely stored on server of the University of Innsbruck IT Department.
  • Data collected is yours only, and you can download it at any time as an csv or an SPSS file.

For more information on the test, current test versions, psychometric properties, data management and data export, as well as scoring, see our Proms User Guide.

Proms User Guide

Further Information

However, if there are further questions, please contact us by e-mail at: