How old are your ears?
Usually about as old as you are, because the highest pitch you can hear slips down decade by decade from your twenties. In a 2021 study of 162 healthy adults tested on a clinical audiometer, 52% of ears aged 21–30 still heard a 20 kHz tone, but only 8% of ears aged 31–40 did. This hearing age test finds the highest tone you can still hear and matches it to the age whose typical ear stops at the same place.
Each trial has three listening windows, shown as three dew drops, and only one holds a soft pure tone; you tap the drop that sang. Because it is a three-interval forced choice, you can’t pass by saying “I hear it”. The tones climb 11 rungs from 8 kHz to 20 kHz, one per right answer; the first miss gets a second try at the same tone and the second miss ends the test. Your top tone is then read against the study’s table of which ears still responded at each frequency, decade by decade from 21 to 70, to give your ear age and a percentile.
It is not a hearing test and can’t tell you whether you have hearing loss. Every tone stays at the soft level you set on a 1 kHz reference, while the clinic counted a tone heard at any level up to the audiometer’s maximum, so if anything your top reads a little low. Phone speakers, many headphones and Bluetooth often fade out around 15–17 kHz, so the result is the lower of your ears and your device. If your hearing has changed, your ears ring, or one ear differs from the other, see an audiologist.
What the test measures
One thing, measured like a ladder: the highest tone your ears still catch at a soft, safe volume.
The task
- Three listening windows, one with a 400 ms pure tone and two silent: tap the one that held the tone
- An 11-rung ladder: 8, 10 and 12 kHz, then every kilohertz from 13 to 20 kHz, one rung per right answer
- Two misses in all: the first is a second try at the same tone, the second ends the test
- Volume set once on a 1 kHz reference; no tone on the page is digitally louder than it
Your result
- Your top tone in kHz and your ear age, from “under 26” to “over 65”
- The share of adults aged 21–70 whose top is lower than yours
- Typical tops from the same study: about 20.2 kHz in the 20s, 16.6 in the 30s, 15.4 in the 40s, 14.6 in the 50s, 13.7 in the 60s
- An optional age slider to compare your ears with you; the age is not saved or shared
- Everyday anchors: the “Mosquito” buzzer (about 17.4 kHz), an old CRT television’s whine (15.6–15.7 kHz), and a strip you can tap to hear any tone
- A shareable card and a link that challenges a friend to beat your top tone
Before you start
- Sound on; wired headphones are best, because phone speakers and Bluetooth often stop around 15–17 kHz
- Start with the volume low, raise it on the reference tone until it is clear but soft, then leave it
- On an iPhone, switch off silent mode first
- About two minutes
Hearing age and high-frequency hearing FAQ
Is this test free? Do I need to sign up to see my result?
Yes, it’s free, and there’s nothing to sign up for: no account, no email, no payment. Your result appears on this page the moment you finish, and you can share it or play again straight away.
What frequency should I be able to hear at my age?
Roughly 20 kHz in your twenties, falling to about 14 kHz by your sixties. In Wang et al.’s 2021 study of 162 healthy adults, the frequency where half of a group’s ears still responded was about 20.2 kHz at 21–30, 16.6 kHz at 31–40, 15.4 kHz at 41–50, 14.6 kHz at 51–60 and 13.7 kHz at 61–70.
How accurate is an online hearing age test?
This hearing age test is right on average but noisy in a single run, about one rung either way, so a few runs tell you more than one. The three-interval forced choice keeps guessing from inflating the result, but the test can’t control your device or volume the way a calibrated clinical audiometer does.
Can I still hear the mosquito tone?
Most people under 30 probably can. The Mosquito anti-loitering buzzer’s youth setting is about 17.4 kHz, and in Wang et al.’s 2021 study 78.3% of ears aged 21–30 still responded at 18 kHz, against 20% at 31–40 and almost none from 41 up.
Why do the highest tones fade with age?
Losing the top of the range is a normal part of getting older, and it starts in your twenties. The adults in Wang et al.’s 2021 study were screened for noise exposure, smoking, ototoxic drugs, diabetes and high blood pressure, and their highest audible tone still slid down decade by decade.
Why can’t I hear high frequencies on my phone?
Often the phone, not the ear, is the limit. Phone speakers, many headphones and Bluetooth connections fade out around 15–17 kHz, and a browser can only play tones up to a little under half its sample rate. The result is the lower of your ears and your device, so wired headphones give the fairest reading.
Is this a hearing test? Can it detect hearing loss?
No. The hearing age test only finds the highest tone you can hear at one soft volume on your own device; it does not measure hearing thresholds, speech or each ear separately, and it is not a diagnosis. If your hearing has changed, your ears ring, or your ears differ, see an audiologist.
Is the hearing age test safe for my ears?
Yes, if you set the volume the way the test asks: start low and raise it on a 1 kHz reference tone until it is clear but soft. No tone the page plays is digitally louder than that reference. Never turn the volume up to hunt for a tone you can’t hear.
Where the numbers come from
Ear ages and percentiles are read from Table 2 of Wang et al. (2021): the share of 324 ears, from 162 otologically healthy adults aged 21–70, that gave any response at each frequency from 8 to 20 kHz on a calibrated audiometer, interpolated between the measured frequencies, with each decade weighted equally. The CRT figures are the NTSC and PAL line frequencies. The site does not publish its own players’ data.
How the score is worked out
Three-interval forced choice
Every trial has three windows and the tone is in exactly one, so a tone you can’t hear leaves you guessing, right one time in three.
Top tone
One rung below the last rung you passed, because that last pass is often luck. In simulated runs this is right on average and within one rung about nine times in ten.
Ear age
For each decade from 21 to 70, the frequency where half of the study’s ears still responded; your ear age is interpolated between those points.