How the hearing test works
- Calibrate. You set a 1 kHz tone to a comfortable level. Every test tone then plays at exactly the same digital level.
- Find your upper limit. Beeps start at 8 kHz and rise in steps of 1 kHz, then 0.5 kHz above 14 kHz. Press I can’t hear it when they disappear.
- Confirm. The test then plays the last tone you heard, and one halfway above it, and asks a simple yes or no. This removes the effect of your reaction time, so the result is accurate to about 250 to 500 Hz.
- Optional extras. Test each ear separately, and measure the lowest tone you can hear (250 Hz down to 20 Hz).
The tones are generated by your browser. Nothing is recorded or uploaded, and your result is stored only in the share link you choose to copy.
What your result means
Young people can often hear up to about 20,000 Hz (20 kHz). The upper limit falls steadily with age, a normal process called presbycusis, which usually starts at the highest frequencies. In a 2021 study of 162 adults with normal standard hearing tests, everyone under 30 responded to 16 kHz and about half to 20 kHz, while nobody aged 51 to 60 responded at 20 kHz and nobody aged 61 to 70 at 18 kHz (Wang et al., J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg). A large Spanish study of 645 people aged 5 to 90 found the same steady rise in high-frequency thresholds with age (Rodríguez Valiente et al., Int J Audiol 2014).
The chart and the “hearing age” are rough guides built from these trends. People of the same age vary by several kilohertz, and noise exposure matters as much as birthdays.
What this test does not measure
- It is not an audiogram. A clinical hearing test measures the quietest sound you can hear at each frequency from 250 Hz to 8 kHz, in calibrated decibels (dB HL), in a sound booth. Those are the frequencies that matter for understanding speech, and this test does not measure them.
- Your equipment limits the result. Many earbuds, Bluetooth codecs and laptop speakers roll off above 15 to 16 kHz, which can make your hearing look worse than it is. For the low test, small speakers cannot play deep bass at all, and distortion can make a “silent” tone audible as a buzz.
- Level changes the answer. Louder tones give a higher upper limit. Compare results only with the same headphones and volume.
When to see an audiologist or doctor
- Sudden hearing loss in one or both ears is urgent. See a doctor the same day or as soon as possible. Treatment works best when started early.
- Ringing (tinnitus), fullness or muffled sound in one ear only, especially with dizziness.
- You often ask people to repeat themselves, struggle to follow conversation in noisy places, or turn the TV up louder than others like.
- A result far below the typical range for your age that stays low with different headphones.
Safe listening
Noise damage is permanent but preventable. The World Health Organization’s safe-listening guidance puts the weekly limit for adults at an average of 80 dB for 40 hours, and less time as it gets louder. As a rule of thumb, keep personal audio below about 60% of maximum volume, take breaks, and use noise-cancelling headphones so you don’t turn the volume up to drown out the background. If someone next to you can hear your music, it is too loud.
Want to check your equipment first? Use the speaker and headphone test to confirm both channels work, or play any exact frequency with the online tone generator.