What a hearing age test actually checks
The highest pitches are usually the first part of hearing to fade. The textbook range of human hearing runs from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and it is young ears that come closest to the top of it; the upper limit creeps down over the years and with noise exposure. A hearing age test turns that into a quick game: tones get higher and higher, and you say when they vanish. The result is your personal upper limit, shown in kHz.
The name is a nickname. The test does not calculate an age, and there is no reliable table that turns a frequency into a birthday. What it does show is how far up the scale your ears reach today, on this device. For a picture of each ear from 250 Hz to 8 kHz, use the hearing test.
How the test works
- Set a comfortable volume. A soft 1 kHz tone plays. Set your device so it is clearly audible but never loud, then press The volume is set. Do not touch the volume again.
- Steady high tones. Each tone plays for 1.6 seconds and fades in and out over a quarter of a second, so no click at the start gives it away. The steps are 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 kHz, all at the same digital level. A dot lights up while the tone plays, and Replay plays it again.
- Answer honestly. Press I hear it or I don't hear it. A "no" only counts after you have heard the same tone a second time, because a single quiet tone is easy to miss.
- A silent check. Somewhere among the first steps, one trial plays nothing at all and is shown as "? kHz". If you answer I hear it to the silence, the result card tells you to treat the score with caution.
- One refinement. After the first tone you miss, the test tries the point halfway between that tone and the last one you heard. Above 12 kHz this gives a step of 0.5 kHz.
The test stops below half of your device's sample rate, because higher tones cannot be played cleanly. On most computers and phones that still allows the full 20 kHz.
How to read your result
Your score is the highest tone you heard, with one decimal (for example 15.5 kHz). It is saved in this browser as your personal best, and the card shows your last results, so you can see whether a later run on the same headphones lands in the same place. Higher is better.
The card puts your score in one of four plain-language groups: 17 kHz and above, 15 kHz and above, 12 kHz and above, and below 12 kHz. These are this site's own descriptions, not age bands. If you did not hear the 8 kHz tone at all, no score is saved and the card suggests checking your sound first.
How high you can hear is not the same as how finely you hear a change in pitch; the tone deaf test measures the second.
Why the top of hearing fades with age
High pitches are sensed by hair cells at the base of the cochlea, the snail-shaped inner ear. They take the first hit from both ageing and loud sound, and they do not grow back. That is why age-related hearing loss, called presbycusis, usually starts at the top of the range and moves down slowly.
The international standard ISO 7029:2017 describes how hearing thresholds are distributed by age and sex in otologically healthy people, and its curves rise most at the high frequencies. Research on extended high frequencies points the same way: Rodríguez Valiente and colleagues measured 645 healthy people aged 5 to 90 between 9 and 20 kHz and found that thresholds rose with both frequency and age (International Journal of Audiology, 2014). Among 20 to 69 year olds, women had lower thresholds than men, especially at 12.5 and 16 kHz. Neither source gives a single "cut-off frequency" for each age, which is why this test does not guess your age.
The mosquito tone
In the mid-2000s, a British inventor, Howard Stapleton, built a device called the Mosquito to keep teenagers from hanging around shops. It played a high tone around 17 kHz that many young people could hear and most adults could not. The "mosquito tone" or "teen ringtone" has been a popular online hearing challenge ever since. This test uses the same idea, but walks you up step by step instead of playing one fixed tone.
Limits: your device may be the ceiling
Many phone speakers, laptops and Bluetooth headphones cannot play tones above about 16 kHz, and some drop off earlier. A low score can therefore mean the hardware gave up, not your ears. Background noise, earwax and a cold can also lower the result.
Never turn the volume up to chase the highest tones. Loud high-pitched sound is unpleasant and can harm your hearing, and a louder tone does not make the test more correct.
When to talk to a professional
A falling upper limit on its own is normal with age and rarely affects speech, which relies mostly on lower pitches. See an audiologist or ENT doctor if you also struggle to follow conversations (the speech in noise test checks this with spoken digits), if one ear seems different from the other, or if you notice ringing that does not go away. The tinnitus test can help you describe the pitch of that ringing. Sudden hearing loss in one or both ears needs medical help the same day.
More checks like this are collected on our hearing tests page.
Sources
- ISO 7029:2017. Acoustics — Statistical distribution of hearing thresholds related to age and gender. International Organization for Standardization.
- Rodríguez Valiente, A., Trinidad, A., García Berrocal, J. R., Górriz, C., & Ramírez Camacho, R. (2014). Extended high-frequency (9–20 kHz) audiometry reference thresholds in 645 healthy subjects. International Journal of Audiology, 53(8), 531–545.
Frequently asked questions
Can a hearing age test tell how old my ears are?
No. It finds the highest tone you can hear today. The upper limit tends to fall with age, but it varies a lot between people of the same age, so this test does not convert your result into an age.
What is the highest frequency humans can hear?
The textbook range of human hearing is about 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Few adults hear right up to 20 kHz, and the top of the range is usually the first part to fade with age and noise exposure.
What is the mosquito tone?
A high-pitched tone, around 17 kHz, that a UK device called the Mosquito played in the mid-2000s to keep teenagers from gathering outside shops. Many young people can hear it, many adults cannot.
Why can't I hear anything above 16 kHz?
It may be your ears, but often it is the device. Many phone speakers, laptops and Bluetooth headphones cannot reproduce tones above about 16 kHz. Try again with wired over-ear headphones before drawing conclusions.
Should I turn up the volume to hear the high tones?
No. Keep the volume you set at the start. Loud high-pitched sound is unpleasant and can harm your hearing, and making the tone louder does not make the test more accurate.
What is the silent trial in the test?
One step plays no sound at all. It checks whether you are guessing. If you answer I hear it to the silence, the result card tells you to treat the score with caution.
Is losing high frequencies a sign of a problem?
A slowly falling upper limit is a normal part of ageing and rarely affects speech. See an audiologist or ENT doctor if you also struggle with conversations, one ear seems different, or ringing does not go away. Sudden hearing loss needs medical help the same day.