The Best Online Hearing Tests of 2023 – CNET [CNET]
Hearing loss is surprisingly common, but the majority of people who could benefit from treatment have never gotten it. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, less than 30% of US adults aged 70 or older with hearing loss have ever used a hearing aid. That number is even lower for adults aged 20 to 69 — at 16%.
While the only way to diagnose hearing loss is to go to an audiologist for a professional exam, online hearing tests are an easy and fairly accurate way to initially gauge the situation from the comfort of your home.
There are a few common types of online hearing tests, including a pure-tone test, which evaluates how well you can hear sounds of different frequencies, and a speech-in-noise test, which evaluates how well you can hear spoken words above background noises. To help you determine which home hearing tests are worth taking, we tried 20 tests and narrowed them down to our absolute favorites. For best results, take the test with a high-quality pair of earbuds or headphones in the quietest area you can find. And for more on hearing health, check out the best over-the-counter hearing aids you can buy.
Best overall online hearing test
The Mimi hearing test app is our top pick overall because it offers multiple test types, is very easy to use and doesn’t require any email sign-up. The results are more informative than other free tests, and you can go back and access them on an ongoing basis (they’re saved for you in the app).
Mimi/Screenshot by Kim Wong-Shing
Cost: Free
Test length: About 7 minutes
Type: Pure-tone and “masked threshold”
Cost: Free
Test length: About 8 minutes
Type: Pure-tone
Cost: Free
Test length: About 5 minutes
Type: Pure-tone