A system and method for using a telephone to reconfigure or readjust the performance characteristics of a hearing aid or to check whether a user has a hearing problem. The telephone is used to generate one or more frequency tests covering the audible spectrum using a DSP contained in the phone, an external computer and/or a hearing aid. The keypad of the phone or keyboard of an attached computer is used as a feedback mechanism. The generated frequencies can be used to test the hearing of a user and the quality (or fit) of a hearing aid while being worn by the user. A local memory may be used to store the results of the tests for future reference or for transmission over the network for analysis at a later time. Once the hearing response of a user wearing the hearing aid has been measured, an updated compensation configuration (audiogram) can be downloaded into the hearing aid via an infra-red link, via a physical connection or a direct audio transmission from the telephone to the DSP in the hearing aid.