A method for operating a hearing device having an input transducer, a signal processing device and an output transducer includes using the input transducer to generate an input signal. The signal processing device has a quality checking unit used to take the input signal as a basis for determining a measure of a signal quality. The quality checking unit is configured for two operating modes, specifically a first operating mode and a second operating mode. The signal processing device has an own voice checking unit used to take the input signal as a basis for determining an activity of an own voice. The quality checking unit is operated in the first operating mode if no activity of an own voice is determined and in the second operating mode if an activity of the own voice is determined. A hearing device and a computer program product perform the method.