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As we get older, our ability to hear may start to diminish. While many people are quick to get glasses for better vision, the ears are often overlooked. Let’s be honest: It’s probably been a long time since you’ve had your hearing checked, if you've had it checked at all. It's easy to take your hearing for granted, and while it's normal for your hearing to change as you get older, it's still important to monitor it. Leaving hearing loss untreated can definitely make matters worse, but unfortunately, too many people do just that. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that less than 30% of US adults aged 70 or older with hearing loss use a hearing aid to correct it. Notably, that number falls to just 16% of adults in the 20 to 69 age range. Thankfully, getting a hearing test is easier than you might think -- and you can even get yours from the comfort of your own home. Online hearing tests are a thing now, and there are a few for you to choose from.
The only way to properly diagnose hearing loss is to go to an audiologist for a professional exam. But online hearing tests are a fairly accurate way to get an initial idea of your hearing abilities from the comfort of your home; just don't take your online hearing test results as the final word. Instead, use them as a starting point for talking to your doctor or a hearing care professional.
Online hearing tests can be grouped into a few common types, including a pure-tone hearing test, which measures your ability to hear sounds of different frequencies, and a speech-in-noise test, which evaluates how well you can hear spoken words above background noises.
With the endless sea of free hearing test options online, it's sometimes hard to know which is the best option for your needs. To help you choose the best home hearing test, we tried 20 and picked our favorites. For the most accurate results, we recommend that you take the test with a high-quality pair of earbuds or headphones in the quietest area you can find. For more on hearing health, check out the best over-the-counter hearing aids you can buy.
Best online hearing test overall
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 because they're saved for you in the app.
Best online hearing tests of 2025
Mimi/Screenshot by Kim Wong-Shing Photo Gallery 1/1 Mimi/Screenshot by Kim Wong-Shing Best overall hearing test Mimi Cost: Free
Test length: About 7 minutes
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