Press Play next check: this sound test plays one beep on the left, two on the right, then both sides.
Press play. One beep a second, left side only.
No permission needed. It opens at 10% volume. Turn it up if you hear nothing.
How to use it
One check at a time
Play a check, listen, then mark it as right or off. When something is off, the list below narrows to what that usually means. Headphones make left and right easiest to judge.
Sample
6 of 7 checks marked. Sounds right: left, right, centre, glide, polarity. Something off: sweep.
Sounds right
5
Something off
1
Marked in the sweep
224 Hz
Last clear bass step
-
Left
LR
More optionsNo sound? Check these first
The Volume slider on this page opens at 10%: slide it up. On a phone, check the silent switch before anything else: with it on, a web page may play nothing at all.
The checks and what they tell you
Your runs in this tab
No check marked yet.
This page makes sound and never listens: it asks for no microphone and no permission. Nothing is stored.
How this test works
Every sound is made in your browser from a plain tone: no file is downloaded and nothing is recorded.
Left and right are told apart by count: one beep each second on the left, two beeps on the right, so a swapped cable is obvious.
Each tone fades in and out over 20 ms, one check plays at a time, and everything stops when you hide the tab.
This sound test shows whether your left and right speakers or headphones both work, and which is which. It never listens, so it asks for no permission.
Read the full guide
Left right audio test, then the middle
Start with the volume low. Left channel only is one beep a second. Mark it Sounds right or Something is off, and Right channel only follows with two beeps, so on unmarked earbuds this is a right left headphone test too. Both channels, centre image should land in the middle.
Speaker test for buzzes and bass
Every speaker test sound here is one pure frequency, so any buzz was added after the page. The slow sweep climbs from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz: mark the frequency where you hear one. For a car speaker test, the stereo's Balance and Fader isolate one corner at a time.
Both patterns in both ears means mono: look for a Mono audio switch under Accessibility, or a headset still in call mode.
Questions and answers
Is this an audio test for a computer, a laptop or a phone?
All three. The audio test runs in the browser, so it checks whatever the device plays through: PC or laptop speakers, a headset, earphones, a TV or a car stereo.
Left right headphone test: why is the beep in the wrong ear?
This left right channel audio test sends one beep to the left alone and two to the right. A beep in the wrong ear means a swap after your browser: earbuds in the wrong ears, crossed speaker cables, or desktop speakers on the wrong sides.
Why is there no sound in my sound check?
The page opens quiet, at 10 percent volume. On a phone, switch Silent mode off: it can mute a website's tones while videos still play. Then look at which output the device is sending sound to.
Can this work as a blown speaker test?
Only as a first listen. The slow sweep makes a buzz, crackle or dropout easy to hear, but no web page can tell a damaged driver from a bad cable or source. Try a second cable, then ask a repair shop.
One ear sounds quieter. Is it my headphones or my hearing?
Centre your device's left-right balance slider, then wear the headphones back to front. If the quiet side swaps ears, it is the hardware. If it stays with the same ear, see a hearing professional: this stereo test checks speakers, not ears.
All 27 rows
Check these first 5
Media volume at zero while the ringer is loudPhones keep more than one volume. On some phones the side buttons change the media volume only while sound is playing and the ringer volume the rest of the time, so press a check first, then press volume up while it sounds.
Nothing plays until you press a buttonThat is the browser's rule, not a fault. As a general rule a page may make sound only after you have clicked, tapped or pressed a key on it, so every check here starts from a button and none starts when the page loads.
Silent switch or Silent mode on a phoneCheck this before anything else. On some phones the tones a web page generates count as ambient sound, which the ring and silent switch mutes, while a video in the same browser carries on playing. Flip the switch or turn Silent mode off, then press the check again.
Show all 27 rows (24 more)
Check these first, continued
Sound going to a different outputA phone or computer sends sound to one output at a time, and it may not be the one in front of you: a wireless speaker in another room, a monitor with no speakers, a headset still paired from the last call. Open the list of sound outputs in your system settings and choose the device you mean to test.
Tab muted, or sound switched off for this siteBrowsers can silence one tab or one site while everything else plays. Look for a crossed-out speaker on the tab and press it. Sound is also a per-site permission: open the padlock or site settings icon beside the address and see what Sound is set to.
The seven checks 7
Bass steps: 100, 60, 50, 40 and 30 HzFive steady low tones of three seconds each, stepping downwards. The step where the tone thins out is roughly where your speaker stops. The waves are long, from 3.43 m at 100 Hz to 11.43 m at 30 Hz, and the output of a bass driver falls as the frequency falls, so small boxes give up early.
Both channels, centre imageThe same tone goes equally to both sides. The panner's equal-power rule sets each side to 0.707 of full level, 3 dB down, which keeps the overall sound power about constant. Sound panned to the centre is heard as coming from between the two speakers, or from the middle of your head in headphones.
Left channel onlyOne beep a second, sent to the left channel alone. The page sets its stereo panner to −1, which browsers define as full left: the left side gets the whole signal and the right side gets none. You should hear it in the left earcup or from the left speaker, and silence on the right.
Left to right glideThe tone slides from full left to full right over eight seconds, then back again. Listen for an even journey through the middle. If it jumps from one side to the other with nothing in between, or never leaves the middle, find the matching row under symptoms.
Polarity: in phase, then one side flippedFor a pair of loudspeakers in a room. A 100 Hz tone plays on both sides for three seconds, then for three more with the right channel inverted. Wired correctly, the first half is the fuller one: in the flipped half the two cones move in opposite directions and their sound waves cancel. The effect is strongest with the speakers a quarter of a wavelength apart or less, which at 100 Hz is 0.86 m. Stand midway between them.
Right channel onlyTwo quick beeps a second with the panner at +1, full right. The two sides carry different beep patterns on purpose: you can tell which channel the page is sending even when it turns up at the wrong ear.
Slow sweep, 20 Hz to 20,000 HzA sine tone climbs through the commonly stated range of human hearing in 40 seconds, about 4 seconds for each octave, with the frequency shown as it goes. A clean speaker gives one smooth tone all the way. Note the number on screen wherever a buzz, a rattle or a sudden drop appears. Keep the volume low: you are listening for noises, not for loudness.
What you hear and what it means 12
A buzz or rattle at one point in the sweepA noise that arrives over a narrow band of frequencies and then goes is typical of something loose vibrating in sympathy: a grille, a shelf, an ornament, a panel. Note the frequency on screen and run the sweep again with a hand pressed on each suspect in turn. For a buzz down in the bass, a steady tone makes the hunt easier.
Centre tone sounds wide, hollow or hard to placeWhen one loudspeaker of a pair is connected with reversed polarity, its cone moves the opposite way to its partner. Sound meant for the centre is partly cancelled, drops in level and becomes hard to localise, and low frequencies suffer most. The miswiring does not damage the speakers. Run the polarity check to confirm it.
Crackle or fuzz that follows the tone everywhereDistortion that stays for most of the sweep, even at low volume, may come from the speaker itself: inside a driver a voice coil can rub in its gap, and foam surrounds perish with age, heat and humidity. It may equally be the cable, the socket or the source. This page cannot tell which, and no browser test can declare a speaker blown. Try a second source and a second cable, then ask a repair shop.
Every beep from both sides at onceYour device is playing mono, with both channels carrying the same signal. Three usual causes: a Mono audio switch, which phones and computers keep under Accessibility in their settings (on a computer look under Accessibility, then Audio); a wireless headset in call mode; or a device with a single speaker.
The flipped half of the polarity check has more bassOne speaker is connected backwards, and the page's flip has put it right. Switch the amplifier off, then swap the two wires at the back of one speaker only, so that each wire joins like-marked terminals at both ends. Run the check again and the first half should now be the fuller one.
The lowest bass steps fade on small speakersExpected on phones, tablets, laptops and small wireless speakers. Small full-range drivers are limited most of all at low frequencies, and a consumer subwoofer exists to cover the range below about 200 Hz. More volume will not bring the missing steps back.
One beep from the right, two from the leftLeft and right are swapped somewhere after the browser. Look for earbuds in the wrong ears first (find the L and R marks), then speaker cables crossed at the amplifier, then desktop speakers standing on the wrong sides of the screen. A standard headphone plug carries left on its tip and right on the ring behind it.
One side quieter than the otherCentre the balance slider first. Next look at the mesh of the earbud or speaker, where lint and dust collect. Last, wear the headphones back to front so the left cup sits on your right ear. If the quiet side moves with the headphones, it is the hardware. If it stays with your ear, that is a question for a hearing professional and not for this page.
One side silentWork outwards from the settings. Centre the left-right balance slider, which sits with the mono switch in the accessibility or sound settings. Push a wired plug fully home. Then swap sides: connect the silent speaker or earcup to the other channel. If the silence moves with the speaker, the speaker or its cable is at fault; if it stays on the same channel, look at the source.
Singers vanish from music but the backing staysA four-contact headset plug in a socket wired to the other of the two headset standards loses its ground. The two earpieces end up connected in series and out of phase, which cancels whatever is mixed to the centre, usually the lead voice. On this page the centre tone goes faint while the left and right checks still pass. Holding the headset's mic button can bring the sound back for as long as you hold it, which confirms the mismatch.
Stereo with music, mono on a callWireless headsets switch between two Bluetooth profiles. The music profile, A2DP, carries up to two channels. The hands-free profile that takes over when the microphone is live carries a single monaural channel, so left and right collapse for as long as a call app, or any page using the mic, holds the headset. Close it and run the check again.
The top of the sweep goes silentNot a speaker fault by itself. The commonly stated range of hearing runs to 20,000 Hz, but people differ considerably at the high end, and some loss of sensitivity to high frequencies with age is considered normal. Do not raise the volume to chase the last few thousand hertz, because a tone you cannot hear can still be loud. This sweep checks speakers, not ears.
In a car 3
A door or boot panel that buzzes on the bass stepsSound-deadening material is often fitted inside door cavities and the boot to damp panels that vibrate with loud bass. When something buzzes on the 50 or 40 Hz step, check loose trim, cables and the contents of the door pockets before you suspect the speaker. The 40 Hz tone page has a 30-second WAV to take out to the car.
Front and rear in a car: the Fader settingFader moves the sound between the front and the rear. Combine it with Balance to hear one corner at a time: fully front and fully left leaves only the front left speaker playing. Run the slow sweep on each corner in turn and a silent speaker or a rattling door has nowhere to hide. Centre both settings when you finish.
Left and right in a car: the Balance settingCar stereos usually keep a Balance setting in the sound menu. Play this page through the car by Bluetooth, cable or USB while parked. Run the left and right checks with Balance centred, then set it fully left and fully right in turn to hear each side alone.