How to test your speakers or headphones
- Turn the volume down to about a third, then press Left, Right and Both. Each plays a short chirp on that channel only.
- Check that "Left" is heard only on the left, "Right" only on the right, and "Both" from the middle.
- Run the frequency sweep to hear the range your speakers can play, and the bass test to find rattles and the lowest audible note.
- Use the phase test to check that your speakers are wired the same way round.
What the tests tell you
Swapped left and right channels are common with new headphones, adapters, Bluetooth settings and badly labelled cables, and they matter for games, films and music mixing. The stereo test uses Web Audio stereo panning so the sound is sent to exactly one channel. If you hear both sides equally, check "mono audio" in your accessibility settings, or the balance control in your sound settings.
The sweep glides from 20 Hz to 20 kHz over 15 seconds, the nominal range of human hearing. Laptop and phone speakers usually start around 150–300 Hz, desktop speakers around 60–80 Hz, and good subwoofers reach 30 Hz. The high end depends on your ears as much as your speakers: most adults stop hearing somewhere between 14 and 18 kHz. In the phase test, correctly wired speakers place sound in the centre with full bass; reversed polarity on one speaker makes it vague with weak bass. Sounds are generated in your browser; nothing is recorded.
My left and right are reversed. How do I fix it?
Check that headphones are worn the right way, swap the speaker cables, or look for a channel swap option in your sound settings or app.
I hear nothing at the start of the sweep. Is something broken?
No. Most speakers cannot reproduce the lowest frequencies, and very low tones are hard to hear.
Is this safe for my speakers?
Yes, at moderate volume. Avoid high volume during the bass and sweep tests on small speakers.