Screening tool, not a diagnosis
Hearing Age Test
Find the highest pitch you can still hear. Use headphones in a quiet room at a comfortable volume — this estimates high-frequency hearing, it never diagnoses anything.
Test
Press Start. Each tone plays for 2 seconds at a fixed moderate level.
Now playing
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Tone 0 of 6
Result
How to interpret the result
Higher audible ceilings generally track younger ears: hearing 16 kHz or above is typical of young ears, 14 kHz the thirties, 12 kHz the forties, 10 kHz the fifties, and 8 kHz older — but headphones, background noise and volume shift every result, so treat yours as a rough screening band, not an age stamp. If you notice persistent ringing, muffled hearing or a big gap between ears, see a hearing professional for real audiometry.
How to give yourself a fair run
Pick a hushed bedroom late in the evening, put on wired or well-charged headphones, and set system volume to the level where a video voice sounds relaxed and clear. Press Start and answer each of the six fixed-level tones from 8 kHz up to 18 kHz honestly: tap I hear it only when you perceive a distinct whistle for the full 2 seconds. Everything plays locally through the Web Audio API in current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari, with no account and no install, and the level stays locked so every pitch arrives under identical conditions. Never nudge the volume upward to chase a missing top tone, because the screening loses meaning the moment levels change mid-run.
- Seat the earcups fully and rerun 8 kHz as a confidence check — if the easiest tone wavers, background noise is too high.
- Close windows and pause fans; a noisy living room can bury 16 kHz before your ears get a chance.
What your ceiling band means in daily life
Most teens in quiet rooms confirm 16 or 18 kHz without strain, many thirty-somethings top out near 14 kHz, forties often land around 12 kHz, fifties near 10 kHz, and older ears frequently settle near 8 kHz — yet headphones, earwax, a cold, or a humming air conditioner shuffle those bands by a step in either direction. Speech clarity lives far lower, roughly between 300 Hz and 4 kHz, which explains why someone who misses 16 kHz still follows conversation effortlessly while missing a faint television whine. Treat your highest confirmed tone as a rough high-frequency ceiling, not an age stamp.
Why the same ears score differently across days
Swap earbuds for over-ears and the ceiling often climbs a full step, because tiny drivers roll off extreme treble while sealed cups preserve it. A morning run after eight hours of sleep regularly beats a midnight run after two hours of gaming with the headset loud, since short-term fatigue temporarily lifts thresholds. Even the browser path matters slightly: Bluetooth adds its own processing, low battery throttles output, and one loose ear tip can erase 18 kHz while 8 kHz booms on. Run once, note the room and the headphones, and if curiosity pushes you to compare with a friend, use identical headphones in the same chair ten minutes apart rather than trading screenshots from different flats.
- A teenager confirming 18 kHz and a parent confirming 12 kHz on shared headphones in one evening is a normal spread, not a warning sign by itself.
- Missing every tone including 8 kHz usually signals setup trouble — refit headphones, lower background noise, confirm normal system volume, then restart.
- A persistent one-ear gap across two quiet evenings deserves attention more than any single high number does.
Why it is not a hearing test
Clinical testing measures the softest level you hear at each frequency per ear in a booth with calibrated gear. This page plays fixed-level tones through unknown headphones in an unknown room — it cannot measure thresholds, diagnose loss, or fit protection. Read the measurement disclaimer and keep volumes moderate; never raise the volume to chase a tone you cannot hear.