Savvy Senior Free Online Hearing Tests You Can Take at Home

They are not meant to be a diagnosis, but rather to give you an idea of how bad your hearing loss is and what can be done about it.

For most do-it-yourself hearing tests, you’ll be advised to wear ear headphones or earbuds and sit in a quiet spot.

You also need to know there are two different types of tests available. One type is known as pure-tone testing, where tones are played in decreasing volumes to determine your specific level of hearing loss.

And the other type is known as speech-in-noise or digits-in-noise (DIN), where you’ll be asked to identify words, numbers, or phrases amid background noise.

Who Should Test?

Hearing loss for most people develops gradually over many years of wear and tear, which is the reason many people don’t realize they actually have a hearing problem.

Anyone who has difficulty hearing or understanding what people say, especially in noisier environments or over the phone, should be tested. Or, anyone who needs a higher volume of music or TV than other people should take a few minutes to test their hearing.

Self-Hearing Tests

Online and app-based hearing tests can serve as a great screening tool.

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Where to Test

If your husband uses a smartphone or tablet, two of my favorite appbased hearing tests are the hearWHO app, created by the World Health Organization, and the Mimi Hearing Test app. Both apps are free to use and are available through the App Store and Google Play.

HearWHO allows users to check their hearing status and monitor it over time using a DIN test, while Mimi uses pure-tone and masked-threshold tests to give you a detailed picture of your hearing abilities.

There are also a wide variety of online hearing tests your husband can take on a computer.

A quick internet search will yield multiple options for free online DIN and pure-tone hearing tests. Many are offered by hearing aid manufacturers, such as Oticon (oticon.com/your-hearing/online-hearing-test).

All of these hearing tests are completely free to use and take less than five minutes to complete.