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Hearing test
A quick self-check, not a diagnosis: calibrate a comfortable level, then press whenever you hear a beep in one ear at a time.
A self-check, not a hearing test from a professional
This tool cannot diagnose hearing loss or rule it out. Your headphones and device are not calibrated, so results are relative, not the dB HL an audiologist measures. If you have any concern about your hearing, see an audiologist or doctor — and if your hearing changed suddenly, get seen urgently, within days.
Before you start
- Find a quiet room and use wired or Bluetooth headphones — not speakers.
- Turn off noise cancellation, transparency mode, spatial audio, equalizers and hearing enhancements.
- Turn off any mono audio accessibility setting.
- Allow 8 to 10 minutes, a few more with the high-frequency test. You can pause at any time.
Start with
Audiologists usually start with the ear you think hears better.
Works in your browser. No account needed.
Frequently asked questions
Is an online hearing test accurate?
Not in the way a clinical test is. An audiologist uses a calibrated audiometer in a sound-treated room, so results are in dB HL — decibels compared with the average healthy young ear. Your headphones and device are not calibrated, and background noise varies, so this tool reports levels relative to the comfortable tone you chose. It is useful for spotting a clear difference between your ears, a pitch you cannot hear at all, or a change since an earlier check with the same setup. It cannot tell you that your hearing is normal.
How does the test work?
It follows the method audiologists use for pure-tone testing, adapted for a button press. Each frequency starts at a comfortable level and drops 10 dB after every beep you hear; after a miss it rises 5 dB. The threshold is the quietest level you hear twice. Frequencies are tested in the order recommended by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA): 1 kHz, then 2, 4, 6 and 8 kHz, a repeat of 1 kHz as a consistency check, then 500 and 250 Hz. The tone is pulsed and the gaps between beeps are random, which makes guessing harder.
What are the silent intervals for?
About one interval in seven plays nothing at all. If you press during one, that is a false alarm, and the tool counts them, along with presses between beeps. Some false alarms are normal when you are listening hard, but many of them — or a 1 kHz repeat that differs by more than 10 dB from the first — usually mean background noise, tinnitus or anticipation, and the results page will say the run may not be reliable.
What do the numbers on the chart mean?
Each point is the quietest level you heard, in decibels relative to your calibration tone: −60 means you heard a tone 60 dB quieter than it. As on a real audiogram, higher on the chart means better hearing at that pitch; the left ear is drawn with an ✕ and the right ear with an ○. Because even healthy ears are less sensitive at some pitches and headphones are not flat, the shape of the line is not meaningful by itself — compare the two ears, and compare with your own earlier results.
When should I see an audiologist or doctor?
Straight away if your hearing drops suddenly in one or both ears: sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency and treatment works best within days. Book a hearing evaluation if you notice ringing, muffled sound, ear pain, discharge or dizziness, if you often ask people to repeat themselves, if one ear seems worse, or if this check shows a clear difference between ears or a tone you could not hear. The WHO also advises regular hearing checks, especially for people exposed to loud sound or older adults.
Is my result stored anywhere?
No. The tones are generated in your browser and your answers never leave your device. Results are only kept if you press Save, and then only in this browser’s local storage — up to the last ten, so you can compare a later test. Delete saved results removes them.
About this tool
This hearing test is a self-check you can do at home with headphones in about ten minutes. It measures, for each ear separately, how quiet a beep you can hear at seven standard pitches from 250 Hz to 8 kHz — the frequencies on a clinical audiogram, which cover the range most important for understanding speech. An optional high-frequency section adds 10, 12, 14 and 16 kHz, where hearing typically fades first with age and noise exposure.
It is not a medical test and cannot diagnose or rule out hearing loss. Clinical audiometry uses calibrated equipment so that 0 dB HL means the same everywhere; consumer headphones, sound cards and volume settings vary by tens of decibels. That is why the tool starts with a calibration step: you set a 1 kHz tone to a comfortable level, and every result is expressed relative to it. Comparisons made with the same setup are the meaningful part — your left ear against your right, and today against a check you saved some months ago.
The procedure is the one used in manual pure-tone audiometry, described in ASHA’s guidelines: start at an audible level, go down 10 dB after each response and up 5 dB after each miss, and take the quietest level heard twice as the threshold. Tones are pulsed in groups of three, the pause before each one is random, and silent catch intervals are mixed in; the results page reports how often you pressed when nothing played, and whether the 1 kHz repeat agreed with the first measurement.
Hearing loss is common and often gradual. The World Health Organization estimates that over 430 million people need care for disabling hearing loss and that more than a billion young adults are at risk from unsafe listening. WHO advises keeping personal audio below about 60% of maximum volume, limiting time in loud places, and having your hearing checked regularly. If this self-check or your own experience raises any doubt, an audiologist can give you a proper evaluation, and a sudden change in hearing should be seen urgently.