There are sounds they no longer hear.
Hearing loss is invisible. This is one way to start noticing it.
Headphones recommended
Pick a sound, then move the slider.
This is an approximate, educational simulation of one common pattern of age-related hearing loss — not a recording of any real patient, and not a measurement of your own hearing.
Watch the bars: in this simulation, high frequencies are the first to fade.
They hear a voice,
not always the words.
Often starts at the top
Age-related hearing loss often affects high frequencies first — though the pattern varies by person, and not everyone follows this exact path.
Some consonants fade first
Sounds like s, sh and f carry much of their energy in the high frequencies, so they can blur together even when a voice is still clearly audible.
A real test finds the exact pattern
A full clinical hearing test measures your exact thresholds, frequency by frequency — this is what lets a specialist recommend the right next step for you specifically.
Now, what about your hearing?
A short, guided listening check — about one minute. This is a screening check, not a clinical hearing test, and it does not produce a diagnosis.
Put on headphones, somewhere quiet, before you start.
For this to reflect each ear separately, use wired stereo headphones and turn off any "mono audio" or balance accessibility setting on your device.
Educational simulation · sounds are synthesized, not recordings