App comparisons
Something usually sends people looking. Maybe dinners take more effort than they used to, or a phone call left you nodding along and hoping, or a hearing test came back fine anyway. BrainHQ is a well-known brain-training program, but if what you want back is conversation, there is a more direct way to practice. Here are your options, including SoundSteps, which we make.
Most people comparing these apps are not chasing a higher score on a memory game. They want dinner with friends to be less work. They want to stop asking their grandkids to repeat themselves. Following real speech in a real room is a skill, and the best way to build it is to practice in situations like the ones you struggle with.
So the question is not really which app is better. It is what you want to practice: your general speed and attention, or the way you follow voices.
BrainHQ gives you short daily games for attention, memory, and processing speed. Its sound exercises are low-level by design: telling a rising tone from a falling one, or catching the difference between short syllables as they play faster and faster.
It costs $14 a month or $96 a year, with one free exercise a day. If structured daily brain games are what you are after, it is a good fit.
SoundSteps is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. We built it for one job: making conversation easier to follow. You practice with real voices — different speakers, speeds, and accents — starting with words that sound alike, then sentences, then full conversations and stories.
Every activity has a background-noise dial. It starts quiet, and you raise it as you get steadier, the way you would add a little weight at the gym. The difficulty adjusts to how you are doing, so practice stays challenging without becoming discouraging.
There is nothing to install and no sign-up to begin. The listening check runs free in your browser, your first week includes full access with no card, and it works whether you wear hearing aids, cochlear implants, or nothing at all.
Listening-app roundups often mention eargym and Hearoes. Both are game-style training apps for your phone, both English-only, and both stop at shorter exercises rather than full conversations. If quick games suit you better than structured practice, they are worth a look — our reviews of each are linked below.
Try before you subscribe to anything. Spend ten minutes with BrainHQ's free daily exercise, then ten with our free listening check. One of them will feel like it is practicing the thing you actually miss. Keep that one.
FAQ
It depends on what you want to practice. For following conversation in background noise, SoundSteps — our app — practices exactly that, with real voices and a noise level you control, free to start in any browser. For quick game-style ear training on your phone, eargym and Hearoes are the usual names.
BrainHQ trains general processing speed and attention, and its sound exercises use tones and short syllables. Following a voice through a noisy room is a different task. If that is your goal, practice built on real speech with background noise targets it directly.
Its sound exercises are built on synthesized tones and processed syllables — for example, telling a rising sweep from a falling one, or "bo" from "do." They are not built on sentences, conversations, or background noise.
BrainHQ costs $14 a month, or $96 a year. One exercise a day is free; the full set of exercises requires the subscription.
Yes. SoundSteps — our app — starts free in any browser with no card, and your first week includes full access. You can compare it against BrainHQ's free daily exercise the same afternoon and keep whichever fits.
Related reading
What brain games train, what listening practice trains, and how to choose.
Listening is a skill you can practice, like strength or balance. How to start.
Every listening-practice app compared: price, platforms, devices, languages.
Listening practice apps compared by price, features, and fit.
What the UK check-train-track app does well, what it costs, and who it fits.
The game-style CI practice app: its module ladder, pricing, and where it stops.
SoundSteps
Real voices, background noise you control, and difficulty that adjusts to you. Start with the free listening check — no card, full access for the first week.
SoundSteps is designed for hearing training and practice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition. Consult a healthcare professional for medical advice.
