Hearing range test

A sweep climbing from 8 kHz. Stop it when the tone disappears, and see where the top of your range sits.

Silent
Left Right

Turn your volume to about a third before you start. Tones are louder than music.

  1. Frequency range

    A tone climbing from 8 kHz towards 22 kHz. Stop it when it disappears. Where it stops depends on your ears and your speakers together, so this is a rough reading, not a hearing test.

Read this before you read your result

This is not a hearing test. It is a check of what came through a chain with several uncalibrated links in it: the browser, the output device, the headphones, the room and finally your ears. A clinical test removes all of those variables, measures each ear on its own, and looks for the quietest sound you can detect at each frequency rather than the highest frequency you can detect at all. The number you get here is a conversation piece, not a diagnosis.

Treat it as a hardware check as much as a hearing check. If two pairs of headphones give you different answers, the difference is the headphones.

How to get a consistent reading

Use wired headphones if you have them, sit somewhere quiet, and set a moderate volume — then leave the volume alone. Loudness and audibility trade off directly at the top of the range, so the same ears give a higher number at a higher volume. If you want to compare over time, compare your own results at the same setting on the same headphones.

Stop the sweep the moment the tone genuinely vanishes, not when it becomes faint. There is a region of a kilohertz or two where a tone is present but easy to lose track of, and stopping in the middle of it gives a lower reading than your hearing deserves.

What the usual numbers look like

You stopped hearing it aroundTypically reported by
19–20 kHzChildren and teenagers
16–18 kHzMost people under 25
14–16 kHzMost people under 40
12–14 kHzMost people under 50
10–12 kHzMany people over 50
Below 10 kHzA quiet setting, limited headphones, or hearing worth a professional check

The spread within each row is wide. Two people the same age can differ by several kilohertz through nothing more than the jobs they have done and the concerts they have stood at the front of.

Why the top goes first

Sound entering the cochlea passes the region that responds to high frequencies before anywhere else, so those hair cells experience every sound you have ever heard. They do not regenerate. The result, called presbycusis when it comes with age, starts at the top of the range and works slowly downwards, which is why losing 18 kHz changes nothing you notice and losing 4 kHz makes speech hard to follow in a busy room.

Loud noise accelerates the same process. The dose that matters is level multiplied by time, so an hour at a concert and a full day in a workshop can do comparable damage. Hearing protection is genuinely the only intervention that works, because nothing restores the cells afterwards.

Related checks

The bass test covers the other end, where the limit is almost always the speaker rather than you. The tone generator lets you sit on one frequency and listen properly instead of chasing a sweep, which is a better way to settle whether you can hear 15 kHz. The headphone test confirms both drivers are working before you read anything into a result.

Frequently asked questions

What is the human hearing range?

The textbook figure is 20 Hz to 20 kHz. In practice the bottom end holds up through life while the top end narrows for nearly everyone, which is why two people in the same room can genuinely disagree about whether a high tone is playing.

What should I be able to hear at my age?

Very roughly: children and teenagers up to 19 to 20 kHz, people under 25 to about 17 kHz, under 40 to about 15 kHz, under 50 to about 13 kHz, and older listeners often to around 11 kHz. These are averages with a wide spread, and this page is a fun check rather than a measurement.

Is this a real hearing test?

No, and it cannot be. A clinical hearing test uses calibrated equipment in a quiet booth, measures each ear separately, and finds the quietest level you can detect at each frequency. This page plays an uncalibrated tone through unknown headphones in an unknown room. It shows what got through the whole chain, which is interesting but is not an audiogram.

Should I see a doctor about my result?

Not because of this page. See a professional if you have symptoms that matter: hearing that changes suddenly, ringing that persists, hearing that is noticeably worse in one ear, difficulty following speech in a noisy room, or pain. Those are worth an appointment regardless of what any browser test shows.

Why does the tone disappear and come back?

Two harmless causes. Your headphones have peaks and dips in their response up there, so the level genuinely rises and falls as the sweep climbs. And once a tone is near the edge of your hearing, attention alone changes whether you notice it.

Why can my kids hear something I cannot?

High-frequency hearing loss with age is normal and near-universal. The hair cells that respond to the highest frequencies sit at the entrance of the cochlea and take the most wear over a lifetime, so the top of the range goes first. It says nothing about how well you hear speech.

What is the mosquito tone?

A tone around 17 kHz, loud enough to be irritating and high enough that most adults cannot hear it. It has been used both as a teenage-only ringtone and, more controversially, in devices meant to disperse young people from public spaces.

Does the result depend on my headphones?

Yes, a great deal. Output above 15 kHz varies widely between models, and Bluetooth codecs discard some of the top end before it ever reaches the driver. If you want the most reliable reading available here, use wired headphones and a quiet room.

Does volume change the result?

Yes. A louder tone is audible further up the range, so a result at half volume and a result at a quarter will differ. Pick a moderate level, keep it the same, and compare results only against your own earlier runs at the same setting.

More audio tools