Best Free Auditory Training Apps: What Is Truly Free

We only included apps where the training itself is free, not just the download. That rules out Hearoes and eargym, which are free to install but keep most content behind a subscription. Cochlear CoPilot is free but only works for Cochlear-brand implant users in the US and Canada, so it is not a general pick.

That leaves five options. Four are fully free, and one — ours — has a free version alongside a paid tier.

WordSuccess comes from Advanced Bionics, but it works with any brand of hearing device. It offers a large library of recorded words across a long ladder of levels, a placement test that finds your starting level, and a two-person Listening Coach mode for practicing with a partner.

It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android. One caution: neither store listing has been updated since mid-2024, so new features look unlikely.

ReDi is MED-EL's training app, and no manufacturer app is updated more often — new versions land most months. It gives AI feedback on both your listening and your speech, and it works with any hearing device, not just MED-EL's.

It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android, and its store listing shows dozens of language localizations. The web portal is for hearing professionals only, so plan to practice on a phone or tablet.

Speech Banana was built at Johns Hopkins and has a peer-reviewed study behind it. Its structured lessons run on iPad and on the web, in English and Korean. The catch is age: the iPad app was last updated in 2021, and there is no iPhone version.

Angel Sound is in deeper freeze. Its iOS app dates to 2019, its Windows-only desktop version to 2014, and parts of its site no longer load. It can still be made to run — our full Angel Sound review covers when that is worth the trouble.

SoundSteps is our app, so treat this entry as the maker talking. The free version runs in any browser with nothing to install, and your first 7 days include full Premium access without entering a card. Practice covers word pairs, sentences, conversations, and stories, all real recordings, with adjustable background noise on every activity. It works with any hearing device or none, in English, Spanish, and a growing set of other languages. After the first week, Premium is $9.99/month or $89.99/year (as of August 2026) if you want it — the free version keeps going either way.

How to choose from all five? If you want word drills with a placement test, start with WordSuccess. If you want speech feedback too, try ReDi. If you want structured lessons on an iPad, Speech Banana still holds up. Whichever you pick, give it two to four weeks of steady use before you judge it.