Hearing Loss EQ

A browser-based listening calibration tool designed to estimate relative hearing sensitivity across frequency bands and generate a personalized EQ profile for your headphones, speakers, or system audio.

Non-Medical Notice & Disclaimer

This tool is a consumer listening calibration utility and is not a medical diagnosis or clinical hearing evaluation. It does not replace a calibrated clinical audiogram performed by a licensed audiologist or ENT specialist. Results are influenced by consumer headphone characteristics, soundcard variations, DAC output impedance, and ambient room noise. Never use high volumes during testing, and protect your hearing.

Environment & Preparation

Before beginning, please prepare your listening environment for consistent and repeatable results.

• Find a quiet room: Background noise (fans, traffic, typing) masks subtle tones and causes false threshold measurements.
• Wear stereo headphones: Over-ear headphones or well-sealed in-ear monitors offer the best channel isolation between left and right ears.
• Disable enhancements: Turn off virtual surround, Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, bass boost, and any existing active EQ in your operating system or media players.
• Set a moderate volume: Set your operating system volume to a comfortable 40% – 50%. Never increase volume to maximum.

I Understand, Configure Test →

Test Configuration

Select your playback equipment, ear channels, and desired target EQ layout.

Playback Equipment

Headphones / Earbuds (Recommended) Speakers / Studio Monitors

Headphones enable independent left/right ear calibration with discrete acoustic isolation.

Ear Test Mode

Both Ears (Independent L & R) Left Ear Only Right Ear Only

Test Depth

Quick (~1.5 min) Standard (~3.5 min) Detailed (~5.5 min)

Standard mode uses adaptive staircases to converge on repeatable hearing thresholds.

Target EQ Band Layout

3-Band 4-Band 5-Band 10-Band (1-Octave) 13-Band (Default) 15-Band (2/3-Octave) 31-Band (1/3-Octave) Custom

Select the preset that matches your software or hardware EQ. Denser layouts offer finer tone adjustment.

Frequencies in Target EQ (13 bands) Reset Preset

+ Add Frequency

Advanced Parameters & Frequency Range

Pacing Speed

Fast (1.4s gaps) Normal (2.0s gaps) Relaxed (2.8s gaps)

Maximum EQ Boost Cap

+12 dB

Prevents extreme amplification filters at sharp drop-off regions.

Estimated Session: ~3 min 30 sec

← Back Proceed to Audio Calibration →

Audio Engine & Channel Verification

Click the buttons below to initialize Web Audio and confirm that your left and right channels are audible, correctly oriented, and at a comfortable volume.

Left Channel

1000 Hz reference tone

▶ Play Left Ear

Right Channel

1000 Hz reference tone

▶ Play Right Ear

Both Channels

Centered reference tone

▶ Play Center Tone

I can clearly hear the tones in their corresponding ears, and the loudness is comfortable.

← Back Begin Hearing Test →

Listening in progress…

Click "Heard it" immediately whenever you detect a tone.

Overall Session Progress 0%

Tones tested: 0 / ~90 • Active bands: 26

Heard it Press [Space] or [Enter]

Not Sure Pause Abort

Tip: Tone timing and channels are randomized. Do not anticipate or guess. Silent trials are included to measure response reliability. Detailed test logs are visible in your browser's Developer Console (F12).

Estimated Profile & Suggested EQ

Hearing sensitivity normalized against standard ISO 226 equal-loudness curves, generating an accurate compensatory EQ profile.

Reliability & Confidence

96% High

0 catch trial false positives

Channel Balance

Symmetrical

Within ~1.5 dB across bands

Recommended Pre-Amp

0.0 dB

Prevents digital clipping from boosts

Left Ear Sensitivity (dB HL) Right Ear Sensitivity (dB HL) Suggested Combined EQ Boost

Suggested EQ Gains (dB) Sensitivity Thresholds (dB HL)

↻ Retest Weakest / Low-Confidence Bands

Export Equalization Profile

Choose whether you want a single flat Combined EQ or independent Per-Channel EQ.

Flat Combined (Stereo) Dual L/R Split Left Ear Only Right Ear Only

Equalizer APO Plain Text List JSON Preset CSV (MiniDSP)

Copy EQ

Restart Full Test How to Apply This EQ ↓

How to Apply Your EQ Profile

Equalization compensates for natural hearing variations, age-related high-frequency rolloff, or equipment deficits by elevating frequency regions where your hearing requires higher acoustic power.

1. ISO 226 Normalization & Flat Curve Baseline

Music recordings, master mixes, and quality audio equipment are already mastered to match human equal-loudness contours (the Fletcher-Munson / ISO 226 curve). The human ear naturally requires much higher sound pressure to perceive low bass (20–100 Hz) and ultra-high treble (12–16 kHz) than speech midrange (1–4 kHz).

To avoid falsely over-boosting bass and treble on listeners with completely healthy hearing, this tool normalizes all physical threshold measurements against the standard ISO 226 equal-loudness reference curve: - Normal hearing across all frequencies results in a clean, flat 0.0 dB response across the entire EQ profile. - True deficits (such as age-related high-frequency loss or notch deficits) are accurately detected and receive proportional, smoothed compensatory gain.

2. Headroom & Pre-Amp (Crucial)

Whenever you apply positive gain (+dB) to any frequency band in digital audio, you run the risk of digital clipping (0 dBFS inter-sample peaks), which causes unpleasant harsh distortion.

• Always apply a negative pre-amplification gain equal to or slightly exceeding your highest positive band boost.
• Example: If your maximum band boost is +6.0 dB, set your global Pre-amp to -6.0 dB (or -6.5 dB). Then raise your physical headphone amplifier or speaker volume knob to compensate for the lower digital floor. If your recommended EQ is flat (0.0 dB), no pre-amp reduction is required.

3. Software Equalizer Options

• Windows: Equalizer APO with Peace GUI allows loading exact parametric or GraphicEQ curves globally for any output device.
• macOS: SoundSource or eqMac support multi-band graphic and parametric equalization across all apps.
• Linux: EasyEffects (PipeWire) or PulseEffects provide rich 31-band graphic and parametric modules.
• Hardware: Hardware DSP processors (MiniDSP, Qudelix-5K, RME ADI-2, Fiio BTR7) support importing custom PEQ or graphic EQ tables.

4. Understanding Profile Curves & Asymmetry

• Smoothness: Neighboring bands are smoothed algorithmically to prevent unnatural comb-filter effects or phase distortion.
• Channel Asymmetry: If your left and right ears have different sensitivity, use independent per-channel EQ if your player or DSP supports dual-mono configurations. If only a single stereo EQ is supported, the tool provides a balanced compromise curve.

Consumer Audio Variables

Measurements made through this web application are relative to your specific playback hardware (DAC, headphone driver frequency response, ear tip seal, and acoustic coupling). A deficit measured at 12 kHz might reflect a dip in headphone response just as much as ear sensitivity. Start with conservative corrections and fine-tune to taste.