How Often Should You Get a Hearing Test?

Quick Answer

Adults should get a baseline hearing test at age 21 and then every 10 years until age 50. After 50, hearing tests should be done every 3 years. If you work in noisy environments, have ringing in your ears, or notice any hearing changes, get tested immediately regardless of age.

Hearing loss happens so gradually that most people don't realize it for years. You turn the TV up a little louder. You ask people to repeat themselves more often. You stop going to noisy restaurants because conversations are too hard. By the time you admit something is wrong, you may have lost years of connections and conversations you can never get back.

Detailed Breakdown

Hearing loss is the third most common chronic health condition in adults, affecting roughly 1 in 8 people over age 12. Yet most people have never had a hearing test outside of childhood. Unlike vision, which we test regularly, hearing is the forgotten sense.

Recommended Schedule

Adults 18-50 (no risk factors) Get a baseline hearing test in your early 20s, then retest every 10 years. This baseline is crucial — it gives your audiologist a reference point to measure any future changes against.

Adults 50-64 Every 3 years. Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) accelerates significantly after 50. One in three people between 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and it often begins in this decade.

Adults 65+ Every 1-3 years. Annual testing is ideal for this group because hearing changes can happen quickly and have a profound impact on quality of life, cognitive function, and social engagement.

High-risk individuals (any age) Annually. You're high risk if you:

  • Work in noisy environments (construction, manufacturing, music, aviation)
  • Have a history of loud noise exposure (concerts, firearms, power tools)
  • Take ototoxic medications (certain antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, high-dose aspirin)
  • Have a family history of hearing loss
  • Have diabetes (linked to higher rates of hearing loss)

What a Hearing Test Involves

A comprehensive hearing evaluation typically takes 30-60 minutes and includes:

  1. Case history — your audiologist asks about noise exposure, medical history, and symptoms
  2. Otoscopy — a visual examination of your ear canal and eardrum
  3. Pure-tone audiometry — you wear headphones and indicate when you hear tones at different pitches and volumes
  4. Speech audiometry — measures how well you understand speech at different volumes
  5. Tympanometry — tests middle ear function and eardrum movement
  6. Results (audiogram) — a chart showing your hearing thresholds across frequencies

Understanding Your Audiogram

Your audiogram shows hearing ability across different frequencies (pitch) measured in decibels (volume):

  • Normal hearing: 0-25 dB
  • Mild loss: 26-40 dB — difficulty hearing soft speech and conversations in noise
  • Moderate loss: 41-55 dB — difficulty with normal conversational speech
  • Moderately severe: 56-70 dB — must strain to hear conversations
  • Severe: 71-90 dB — can only hear loud speech or sounds
  • Profound: 91+ dB — may not hear most sounds without amplification

The Link Between Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline

Research from Johns Hopkins and other institutions has shown that untreated hearing loss is independently associated with:

  • Accelerated cognitive decline — the brain reallocates resources from memory and thinking to hearing
  • Increased dementia risk — mild hearing loss doubles the risk; moderate loss triples it
  • Social isolation — difficulty communicating leads to withdrawal
  • Depression — linked to the social and emotional impact of hearing loss
  • Falls — hearing helps with spatial awareness and balance

Early intervention with hearing aids or other amplification devices can slow these effects significantly.

Protecting Your Hearing

Prevention is far more effective than treatment:

  • Use earplugs or noise-canceling headphones in loud environments
  • Follow the 60/60 rule for earbuds — no more than 60% volume for 60 minutes at a time
  • Stand away from speakers at concerts and events
  • Wear hearing protection when using power tools, lawnmowers, or firearms
  • Give your ears recovery time after loud exposure

Signs You Should Get a Hearing Test Sooner

Don't wait for your scheduled test if you notice:

  • Asking people to repeat themselves frequently
  • Difficulty following conversations in noisy environments
  • Turning up the TV or phone volume higher than others prefer
  • Ringing, buzzing, or hissing in your ears (tinnitus)
  • Difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds (birds, doorbells, children's voices)
  • Muffled or distorted sound quality
  • Feeling that people are mumbling more than they used to
  • Avoiding social situations because of hearing difficulty

Quick Reference Table

| Age Group | Test Frequency | Why | |---|---|---| | 18-50 (low risk) | Every 10 years | Baseline and monitoring | | 50-64 | Every 3 years | Age-related loss accelerates | | 65+ | Every 1-3 years | High prevalence, cognitive impact | | Noise-exposed workers | Annually | Occupational hearing conservation | | Tinnitus sufferers | Annually | Monitor for associated hearing loss | | Ototoxic medications | Before, during, after treatment | Drug-induced hearing damage |

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