Decibel Shield
Speaker test tones › Sound test
Sound test for speakers and headphones
Press play to hear three short notes. If you hear them, your sound works, and the next two tests check that left and right are the right way round and how low your bass goes. If you hear nothing, a checklist covers the usual causes, from a muted tab to the wrong output device. The test only plays sound: no microphone, nothing recorded.
1 Is your sound working?
Press play. You should hear three short rising notes from both sides.
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Left and right, balance and phase
Each tone plays from one side only, and you say which side you heard it from. That catches what a plain "did you hear it" test misses: headphones on backwards, swapped speaker cables, one dead side or a mono setting. The same test has its own page, the left and right audio test.
1 Left channel
This tone is routed to the left channel only. Which side did you hear it from?
2 Right channel
This one is routed to the right channel only. Which side did you hear it from?
3 Balance
The same 440 Hz tone at the same level in both channels. It should sit in the middle of your head, or halfway between the speakers. Where did it sit?
4 Phase (polarity)
Two 300 Hz tones. In tone A both sides push together; in tone B the right side is flipped. Correctly wired gear makes A sound focused in the middle and B sound wide or hollow. Which one sounded more focused?
5 Stereo image
A 500 Hz tone that travels from the left ear to the right over eight seconds. It should cross smoothly through the middle of your head, not jump from one side to the other.
6 Frequency range
One tone gliding from 20 Hz to 20 kHz over 12 seconds. Note when it fades in at the bottom and when it disappears at the top: the low end is your drivers, the top end is your drivers and your ears.
Tones play out through your speakers or headphones. There is no microphone here, nothing is recorded, and the output level is capped, though you should still start with the volume low.
Bass
Play the bass steps from 20 Hz to 200 Hz and mark what you hear. The lowest tone you still hear is where your speakers or headphones stop playing bass; feeling the lowest steps rather than hearing them is normal. More on the bass test page.
The bottom of nominal human hearing. Felt more than heard, and only by a capable subwoofer.
Still sub-bass. Phone and laptop speakers produce nothing usable here.
A good subwoofer or a large over-ear headphone reaches this.
The lowest note of a bass guitar sits near here.
Most decent headphones manage this cleanly.
Bass body. Cabinet rattles and room resonance usually appear around here.
The common crossover point between a subwoofer and the main speakers.
Upper bass. Small speakers start to be audible here.
Boomy rooms exaggerate this band.
Low mids. A laptop speaker can usually do this.
Almost every speaker reproduces this, including a phone.
Tones play out through your speakers or headphones; there is no microphone and nothing is recorded. This tells you what your whole chain reproduces, which is the speaker, the room and your ears together, not the speaker alone. Keep the volume moderate: sustained deep tones are the one thing a test tone can genuinely damage.
Which test answers which problem
| What you notice | The test to run |
|---|---|
| No sound at all | Step 1, then its checklist |
| Sound only on one side | Left and right: one side will come back as "heard nothing" |
| Instruments on the wrong side, or voices that move the wrong way | Left and right: swapped channels |
| Thin sound, voices without a centre | Phase, in the left and right test |
| Weak or missing bass | The bass test |
| Missing high notes | The 20 Hz to 20 kHz sweep in the left and right test |
| Others cannot hear you on a call | That is the microphone: the mic test |
Testing a surround system or a single tone
For a 5.1 or 7.1 system, the surround sound test plays each speaker on its own, including the centre and the subwoofer. To hold one frequency for as long as you need, use the tone generator.
What does a sound test check?
Three things, in order. First whether any sound reaches you at all, then whether the left and right channels are the right way round and equally loud, and last how low and how high your speakers or headphones actually play. Each step plays a tone and asks what you heard, because only your ears can say what came out.
How do I test my speakers?
Play the test sound with the volume low and raise it until the notes are comfortable. Then sit centred between the speakers and run the left and right test: each tone should come from the speaker it names. Finish with the bass test to find the lowest note they reproduce.
Why do I hear no sound at all?
Usually something simple: the device or the browser tab is muted, the sound is going to a different output such as a monitor or a Bluetooth device, or another app is holding the audio device. On an iPhone, silent mode also silences web pages in Safari. The checklist that appears when you answer "I heard nothing" goes through them in order.
Is this test safe for my speakers and ears?
The output is capped and every tone stops on its own after a few seconds, but start with the volume low all the same. Pure tones carry all their energy at one frequency and can sound quieter than music at the same level, which tempts people to turn them up too far.
Does the sound test use my microphone?
No. It only plays sound and nothing is recorded or uploaded. To check a microphone instead, use the mic test, which listens and shows whether your voice is coming through.