How the HearAge test works
HearAge measures the quietest tone you can hear at six frequencies in each ear, then compares your results with published population data to estimate your hearing age. This page explains exactly how, including what a phone-based test can and cannot tell you.
The test: pure-tone screening, one ear at a time
HearAge uses the same basic procedure as a clinical hearing screening: pure tones at 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000 and 8,000 Hz, played separately to each ear through your headphones. You tap the moment you hear a tone.
The level of each tone follows a staircase procedure modelled on the Hughson–Westlake method used in audiometry: when you hear a tone, the next one is 10 dB quieter; when you miss one, the next is 5 dB louder. Your threshold for that frequency is the quietest level you confirm on repeated ascents. Tones are pulsed (easier to detect near threshold) and the silent gaps between them are randomised, so tapping to a rhythm can't fake a result.
What the audiogram shows
Your thresholds are drawn as a standard audiogram: frequency left-to-right, hearing level in dB HL top-to-bottom, right ear as red circles and left ear as blue crosses, the same conventions an audiologist uses. Values of 25 dB HL or better are generally considered within the normal range for adults. See our guide to reading an audiogram.
How hearing age is calculated
Hearing age is the age whose typical hearing most closely matches yours. Hearing naturally declines with age, fastest at high frequencies, a process called presbycusis. ISO 7029, the international standard describing hearing thresholds by age, quantifies that decline across the population.
HearAge averages your measured thresholds at 2,000 and 4,000 Hz across both ears, the region where age-related change shows first, and finds the age at which that loss is the population median. If your average high-frequency loss is about 27 dB, your hearing age is about 60, because 27 dB is typical at that age.
It's one honest number built from real measurements. It is still an estimate with a spread: individual hearing varies widely at every age, and the standard tables differ slightly for men and women.
What a phone test can and can't tell you
Consumer headphones are not laboratory-calibrated, and your volume setting affects absolute levels. HearAge uses typical per-frequency corrections for consumer headphones, but the honest position is:
- Reliable: the shape of your audiogram (which frequencies are weaker), left–right differences, and change over time when you retest with the same headphones at the same volume.
- Approximate: the absolute dB values, and therefore the exact hearing age.
- Not covered: the causes of a loss. A screening cannot distinguish wax, infection, noise damage, or other conditions; that requires a professional.
For best results: a quiet room, headphones rather than the phone speaker, and a comfortable, consistent volume.
The amplifier: your audiogram, applied
HearAge's amplifier boosts live sound from the microphone through your headphones, shaped by your own results. It applies roughly half of your measured loss as gain at each frequency (the "half-gain rule", a standard first-fit heuristic in amplification), compresses loud sounds so quiet speech is lifted without peaks becoming uncomfortable, and passes everything through a limiter as a final safety stop.
Privacy, by architecture
The test, your results and your history live on your iPhone. Amplified microphone audio is processed live and never recorded. Live captions use Apple's on-device speech recognition. There is no account and no server holding your hearing data. Details in the privacy policy.
Screening, not diagnosis. HearAge is not a certified medical device. If your results concern you, or you have sudden hearing loss, pain, or ringing in one ear, see a doctor or audiologist promptly.
Three minutes, any headphones, free. Find your hearing age.
Get HearAge for iPhoneFrequently asked questions
How accurate is an app hearing test?
The shape of your results (which frequencies are weaker) is reliable, because it compares your own responses across tones. The absolute levels are approximate, because consumer headphones are not laboratory-calibrated. HearAge is a screening, not a clinical audiogram.
What is hearing age?
Hearing age is the age whose typical hearing most closely matches yours, based on your measured high-frequency thresholds and ISO 7029 population data.
Is HearAge a medical device?
No. HearAge is a wellness screening and amplification tool. It does not diagnose hearing loss and does not replace a professional evaluation.
References
- ISO 7029:2017, Statistical distribution of hearing thresholds related to age and gender
- World Health Organization, Deafness and hearing loss fact sheet
- NIDCD, Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis)
- ASHA, Degree of hearing loss