Speaker Test
A free speaker test that plays real sound to your left speaker, your right speaker, both together in and out of phase, and from deep bass to high treble, then turns what you heard into a plain answer: working, swapped, one side dead, mono, wired backwards or rattling. Your browser cannot hear its own speakers, so the result rests on your answers; it does not measure loudness or rate sound quality.
Set your volume to about half. On headphones, the L earbud goes in your left ear. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Left speaker
This plays three short bursts of hiss to the left channel only.
Right speaker
The same bursts, now to the right channel only.
Wiring (phase) check
Both sides play the same hiss. In one sample the right side is flipped upside down. Sit centred between the speakers and compare.
Bass to treble
Play each tone, from deep bass to very high, and tick the ones you could hear. Tones you do not play are left out of the result.
Buzz and rattle sweep
A slow bass tone rises over ten seconds. Listen for buzzing, rattling or crackling on top of the clean hum.
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What a Speaker Test Checks
A speaker test is a short set of sounds sent to exact audio channels so you can hear whether each speaker or earbud is working, in the right place and wired the right way. This one runs entirely in your browser with the Web Audio API, needs no download and keeps nothing: the sounds are generated on your device and your answers stay on it.
It checks five things, one step at a time:
- Left channel. Hiss sent to the left output only. You should hear it on the left only.
- Right channel. The same, on the right. Together these two steps catch swapped channels, a dead side and mono output.
- Phase (polarity). The same hiss on both sides, once normal and once with the right side inverted. On correctly wired speakers the normal one sounds solid and centred and the inverted one sounds hollow and hard to place.
- Bass to treble. Nine pure tones from 40 Hz to 15 kHz, so you can find where your speakers, or your ears, stop.
- Buzz and rattle. A slow bass sweep from 30 Hz to 300 Hz. A loose part, a torn cone or something resting on the speaker usually rattles at one point in the sweep.
How to Run the Speaker Test
- Set the system volume to about half. Pure tones can sound louder than music, especially in headphones.
- Sit facing your speakers, roughly the same distance from each, or put headphones on the right way round.
- Tap Play in each step, answer what you actually heard, and tap Next. You can replay any sound as often as you like.
- Tap See my result. Each check gets its own line, and checks you skipped are listed as skipped rather than passed.
What Your Speaker Test Result Means
| Result | Usual cause | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| Left and right swapped | Cables crossed at the amplifier or speaker, or headphones worn backwards | Swap the two speaker cables or plugs; check the L and R marks on earbuds |
| One side silent | Loose or broken cable, a dead earbud, or the balance slider set fully to one side | Re-seat the cable, try another cable, centre the balance in sound settings |
| Sound on both sides for both tests | Mono audio is switched on, the device has one speaker, or a single Bluetooth speaker | Turn off Mono audio in accessibility settings if you want stereo |
| B sounded more solid than A | One speaker is wired with + and − reversed | On one speaker only, swap the two wires so red goes to red (+) and black to black (−) |
| Buzz or rattle in the sweep | Something loose on or near the speaker, a damaged cone or surround, or a loose grille | Play the sweep again and touch nearby objects to find the rattle; then check the cone |
Speaker Test on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac
On an iPhone, Safari can mute web page sound when the ring/silent switch is set to silent; this page asks the browser to play as media, but if you hear nothing, flip the switch to ring and try again. Phones and many laptops have speakers very close together, so the phase step may sound the same both ways, which is normal. If both the left and right steps come out of both sides, look for Mono audio in the accessibility settings on iPhone, Android and Windows, or Play stereo audio as mono on a Mac, and check the left/right balance slider in the same place. For a Bluetooth speaker or headset, make sure it is the selected output device before you start.
What This Speaker Test Cannot Tell You
A web page can send sound to your speakers but cannot hear them, so it cannot measure volume in decibels, plot a frequency response or judge distortion on its own. The result is only as good as your answers. Not hearing the highest tones is often your ears rather than the speaker: hearing for high-pitched sounds fades with age, as the US National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders explains, so ask someone younger to listen, or check your own hearing first with an online hearing test. Small phone and laptop speakers produce little deep bass by design, and in a room some tones can be quieter in one seat than another, so move your head before deciding a tone is missing. To hold one frequency for as long as you like, use a tone generator; to check the other half of a call setup, test your microphone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I test my speakers online?
Turn the volume to about half, tap Play left and say where you heard the sound, then do the same for the right side, the A/B phase check, the tones and the bass sweep. Tap See my result for a plain verdict on each check. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
How do I know if my left and right speakers are swapped?
Play the left sound. If it comes out of the right speaker, and the right sound comes out of the left, the channels are swapped. On speakers, swap the two cables at the amplifier or the speakers. On headphones, check the L and R marks; many are simply being worn the wrong way round.
Why do I hear the left and right test on both sides?
The output is mono. Either the device or Bluetooth speaker has a single driver, or Mono audio is switched on. Look for Mono audio in the accessibility settings on iPhone, Android and Windows, or Play stereo audio as mono on a Mac, and switch it off for stereo.
What does the speaker phase test do?
It plays the same hiss on both speakers twice. In sample B the right side is inverted. With correctly wired speakers, A sounds solid and centred and B sounds hollow and hard to place. If B sounds better, one speaker probably has its + and − wires swapped; reverse them on that speaker only.
Why can I not hear the highest test tones?
Often it is your hearing rather than the speaker, because sensitivity to high pitches fades with age. Ask someone younger to listen, or try the tones on headphones. If nobody hears them on one speaker but does on another, that speaker or its tweeter is the likely problem.
Can this speaker test damage my speakers or my ears?
Not at a sensible volume. The test sounds are short and set below full scale, but pure tones can seem louder than music, especially in headphones. Start at about half volume and turn it down if any tone is uncomfortable. Stop if you hear rattling at high volume.