Our Picks View details See at Mimi View details View details See at MDHearing View details View details See at Soundly View details View details See at Amplifon View details View details See at Starkey View details Table of Contents Hearing loss is a common part of aging, yet it often goes untreated despite the many available treatment options. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that less than 30% of US adults aged 70 or older with hearing loss have ever used a hearing aid. When you look at adults in the 20 to 69 age range, that number is even lower at 16%. If you're unsure whether your hearing needs attention or are hesitant to visit a specialist, starting with an online hearing test can be a great first step. These tests are quick, convenient and informative, which means you can also share them with your doctor.Read more: 50+ Best Christmas Gifts 2024: Early Ideas for This Year's Holiday ShoppingIn all practicality, 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 the results as the final word. 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. But 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 absolute favorites. For the most accurate hearing test 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 overallThe 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). Best online hearing tests of 2024 See at Mimi Cost: FreeTest length: About 7 minutesType: Pure-tone and "masked threshold"The Mimi hearing test comes in the form of an app that you can download to your phone or laptop. You don't have to sign up, and it's free -- just input some basic info, and you can access detailed results that include an audiogram and a comparison of each ear.Unlike most other online tests, this one offers two test options: the first is a regular pure-tone test, and the second is similar to a speech-in-noise test but uses tones instead of speech. Mimi calls the latter a "masked threshold" test. The app measures whether you're in a quiet enough area to get accurate results, and it can pair with your Apple AirPods to calibrate (and if you find that you have hearing loss, it can work with your AirPods to make adjustments accordingly). It works best with headphones it can pair with, including the AirPods and some Sennheiser models, but can still be used with whatever you have.Pros:Highly intuitiveMultiple test optionsDetailed resultsNo sign-up requiredCons:Works best with Apple or Sennheiser headphonesOnly available via app See at MDHearing Cost: FreeTest length: About 8 minutesType: Pure-toneMDHearing's free online hearing test is a pure-tone test, which looks at how well you can hear various tones of different frequencies. You adjust the volume of each tone until it's as low as possible while still being audible, then move on to the next one. The test's interface was more intuitive than some other online tests that use a similar format. It requires an email sign-up, but you don't have to take lengthy surveys (as many hearing aid brands' online tests require), and I didn't get any spam emails after taking the test.The results of this test are detailed enough to be informative, yet easy to understand and not too overwhelming. They include an audiogram along with a guide to interpreting it, and there's a phone number to text or call for follow-up care. When it comes to free online hearing tests, for an easy, quick look at your hearing health, this test does the trick.Pros:SimpleEasy to useInformative resultsCons:Requires email sign-up See at Soundly Cost: FreeTest length: About 5 minutesType: Pure-toneOne of the challenges with online hearing tests is that home equipment isn't standardized -- your headphone quality, volume, background noise and so on can all affect the accuracy of your results. Many tests have ways of accounting for this, however. In Soundly's case, the test has you rub your hands together in front of your headphones to calibrate the volume of your headphones to the test's volume. The rest of the process consists of a standard pure-tone test in which you mark the lowest tone of each frequency that you can hear, on a set of sliders.Soundly's results are nice and detailed and include an audiogram, explanations of each type of frequency and a video with an audiologist who explains how to interpret the test.Audiograms can be confusing at first glance, so having both a written and video explanation is super helpful. This test requires an email sign-up and a brief survey at the start, but aside from the results, I didn't get any pesky marketing emails after taking the test.Pros:Sound calibration stepEasy to useDetailed results with videoCons:Email sign-up required