Best Auditory Training Apps for Adults, Compared

We looked at price, what the app asks of you before you can start, which hearing devices it works with, and how much evidence sits behind it. None of these apps is a fix on its own. They are practice tools, and they help most when you use them steadily.

This roundup includes SoundSteps, so read our notes on it the same way you read the rest.

LACE is the name hearing care offices know best. Its published studies were run on earlier versions of the program — the current AI Pro app is a newer rebuild that adapts difficulty to how you are doing, and it added a way to practice with recorded family voices.

The trade-offs are price and access. It costs about $499 as a one-time purchase, and you register through a hearing care provider rather than downloading it on your own.

Hearoes is a game-style app covering sound awareness, phonetics, and listening in noise. It works across hearing device brands. The download is free with limited content, and full access runs $9.99 a month, $52.99 for six months, or $99.99 a year.

Some users report bugs with sound playback. But for a free, self-serve entry point with a broad exercise library, it holds up.

eargym is a UK-based app that frames practice as games. It includes hearing checks, training exercises, and progress tracking, on a subscription of about $3.99 a month.

The free tier is limited: the training and tracking sit behind the subscription, and one App Store reviewer reports having to subscribe before the 7-day free trial would start. The community is smaller than the bigger apps.

Angel Sound is free, but it has not been updated in years, and the interface reads more like old research software than a consumer app.

Cochlear CoPilot is a free, well-made app with listening exercises and real-world tips. The catch is that it only works for Cochlear brand hearing device users. If you wear another brand, it is not available to you.

SoundSteps focuses on guided daily practice with a calmer progression. It starts with a short listening check, uses one steady voice first, and lets you add background noise a little at a time. It works across hearing device brands and comes in a growing set of languages.

It has a free version and needs no provider registration, and your first 7 days include full access with no card. After that, Premium is $9.99/month or $89.99/year (as of August 2026). The trade-off: it is newer, and its research base is still growing.

Use a Cochlear device and want something free and polished? Start with CoPilot. Working with a provider who includes LACE in your care at no extra cost? That changes its math.

Want something that works on any phone, starts calm, and lets you build up noise on your own terms? Try SoundSteps or Hearoes. Give whatever you pick a couple of weeks of steady use before you judge it.