An Accessible Color Wheel

How to use it

1. Start here: press the orange "Hear instructions" button above. It will speak the instructions out loud and turn on the sound.
2. Easiest way to explore: press "Take a tour of all 12 colors". The page will play each color's instrument and read its description aloud, one after another. Press Pause any time, then Resume to pick up where you stopped.
3. Explore on your own with the keyboard: press Tab until you reach the color wheel, then use ← and → to step from one color to the next. Press Enter or Space to hear the current color again. Home jumps to Red (12 o'clock), End jumps to Red-Violet (11 o'clock).
4. Or click any swatch on the wheel to hear it and read about it.

What the sounds mean

• Where each color lives: the wheel is a clock face. Red is at 12, Yellow at 4, Green at 6, Blue at 8, Violet at 10. Going clockwise from red, each color is one hour later.
• Stereo direction: each instrument plays from the same direction as its swatch. Colors at 1–5 o'clock come from your right ear; colors at 7–11 o'clock come from your left. Use headphones to feel the position.
• Pitch: warm colors (red, orange, yellow) ring higher; cool colors (blue, violet) sit lower.
• Each color has its own instrument — trumpet for red, bell for yellow, flute for green, cello for blue, organ for violet, and so on.
• Screen readers announce each swatch's name, position number, and clock position as you move through the wheel.
• Hide colors turns off all color fills, so the page works the same with no visual color cues.