In this article, I have compiled a list of 5 free websites to take an online hearing test. So, if you want to quickly check if your ears have any hearing loss then these websites can ease this process as they provide easy to conduct online hearing tests which check your hearing ability and shows an indication of hearing loss (if found). Most of these websites use 2 different types of tests i.e. Speech-in-noise and Pure Tone. The Speech-in-noise test will check how well you understand speech with background noise and the Pure Tone test checks how well you hear high-pitch sounds like birds chirping. If you have an Android device, then you can also use these hearing test Android apps. These Android apps use pure tone audiometry test to check hearing range of different set of frequencies.
Beltone:
Beltone is the first website on my list to take an online hearing test. You don’t need to sign up to take the test. Just visit the link provided and click on the START button. The test first asks some of your personal information like gender and age group. After that, it prompts you to choose the device being used for the hearing test. You can either conduct the test with headphone or loudspeakers. I will recommend you to use headphones as it can be used perfectly for right and left ear diagnosis too. Once you have selected the device being used, adjust the volume of the device that is audible to you or that you think is suitable to conduct the test. After you have done the calibration, you can proceed to take the test. The test involves multiple steps and in each step, you will hear sounds with different noise levels. Your task is to carefully listen to the played sounds and select their pictures displayed on the test screen. It basically tests how you understand speech in different noise levels as people with hearing problems find it very difficult. So, based on your answers, the test will indicate if you have any hearing problems. The test results itself say that these are just for indication purposes and it is not a replacement for a professional test by an audiologist.
Hear-it:
Hear-It is another free website to conduct an online hearing test at home and to get an idea if there is any hearing loss. The test is pretty easy to conduct and even provides a practice session to get used to it. Visit the link provided above and then click on the Speech-in-noise test which opens a pop-up box to take the test. Before starting the test, you will have to adjust the volume at which you would like to hear the spoken numbers in the test. Once done, you can proceed to take the test, which includes a total of 12 steps and in each step, you have to recognize three numbers being played. These numbers are played with different noise levels in the background so as to check your ability to understand speech in presence of noise. As soon as you have finished the test, it shows the score in percentage, as shown in the screenshot above. A higher percentage indicates good hearing and there is no need to use any external hearing device. But if you get a low score then make sure you go for a more professional hearing test to confirm the results.
Starkey Hearing Technologies:
Starkey Hearing Technologies is a free website on which you can take an online hearing test and see if you have any hearing loss. It also uses the Speech-in-noise test to check for your hearing functionality. The tests will play a word sound and you have to then select the right word from the options that was played by it. The spoken word and the words in the options sound very similar to each other, so, listen to the word carefully before choosing an option. The test gets over once you have taken all the questions and a test report indicating hearing level is displayed, as shown in the screenshot above.
Phonak:
Phonak is another free website to take an online hearing test and to check if you have any hearing problems. This test will check for the sound threshold values that your ears can detect for low, mid, and high pitch tones. It then calculates differences between these values to see if you have any hearing problem. The test is very simple to conduct as you just have to adjust the low, mid, and high pitch tones to the level at which they are audible to you. During the test, you will be also presented with some questionnaire related to hearing issues. Once the test is over, you will see the report as shown in the screenshot above. The test reports state the detected hearing state and it also shows explanations of the answers being asked during the test.
Widex:
Widex is the last website on my list to take an online hearing test. The hearing test in this website checks how well you hear speech in noise. Similar to another online hearing test on my list, this test follows the same storyline i.e. you will hear three numbers with different noise levels in the background and you have to select the numbers shown on the test screen, as shown in the screenshot above. It also takes a pure tone audiometry test to test hearing. You can take this test using headphones or loudspeakers but headphones should be given more preference as they can produce more accurate results and allow the test to diagnose both left and right ears separately. Visit the link provided above and click on the START button to get started with the test. The hearing test will begin with a survey which asks questions like if you find difficult to communicate with people, difficult to understand speech from radio, TV, etc, and so on. After that, you have to adjust the volume of headphones or loudspeaker to conduct the test. It then starts a Speech in noise test in which you have to identify the heard 3 different numbers played by the test with different levels of background noise. It then starts a PURE TONE test in which you have to adjust the volume of a tone to a level at which it is audible to you. Both of these tests i.e. Speech-In noise and PURE TONE are carried for left and ears separately and once you have completed them it shows the test report which states if the tests found your hearing normal or not.
Verdict:
If you want to quickly check out how good is your hearing power or to get an indication if you have hearing loss then these websites can be used to conduct an online hearing test right at home. However, these tests are just for indication purposes only and should not be considered as a replacement for a medical ear checkup by a standard otologist.
