Decibel Shield
Speaker Test Tones
To test speakers, play a pure tone at a low volume and step through the frequency range while listening for distortion, rattle or silence. Use the left-only and right-only settings to confirm each channel works. This generator runs in your browser from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, needs no microphone, and measures nothing — what you hear depends on your speakers, your room and your ears.
Frequency
1 kHz
Stopped
The reference tone. Level meters and equipment specs are usually quoted here.
Start with the volume low. Sustained tones — especially deep bass at high level — can damage speakers and hearing, and a tone you can barely hear may still be loud enough to matter.
This plays a tone; it does not measure anything. What you hear depends on your speakers, your room and your ears, so treat silence at the extremes as “this combination did not reproduce it,” not as a fault diagnosis.
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How do I test my speakers?
- Turn the volume down first. Raise it slowly. A steady tone is far harder on a driver than music at the same setting.
- Start at 1 kHz. It is the standard reference pitch and almost every speaker handles it, so it confirms the signal path works before you test anything harder.
- Check each channel. Left only, then right only. A silent side is a real fault you have just found.
- Walk the range. Step down toward 20 Hz and up toward 20 kHz, listening for where sound disappears or turns buzzy.
What does each frequency test?
| Frequency | What it tests |
|---|---|
| 20 Hz | Sub-bass floor. Most speakers and all phone speakers produce nothing usable here — you may feel it rather than hear it. |
| 30 Hz | Deep bass. A subwoofer should manage this; small drivers will not. |
| 60 Hz | Bass body. Also where room resonance and cabinet rattles usually show up. |
| 120 Hz | Upper bass. Boomy rooms tend to exaggerate this band. |
| 440 Hz | Concert A, the standard tuning reference. |
| 1 kHz | The reference tone. Level meters and equipment specs are usually quoted here. |
| 3 kHz | Presence band — the ear is most sensitive around here, so it sounds loudest for the same level. |
| 8 kHz | Treble detail. Cymbals and sibilance live here. |
| 12 kHz | Upper treble. Cheap tweeters start rolling off. |
| 15 kHz | Many adults over 50 no longer hear this at all. |
| 17 kHz | Typically audible only to younger ears, and only on capable speakers. |
| 20 kHz | The nominal top of human hearing. Silence here is normal for most people and most gear. |
Why can't I hear the highest tones?
Two reasons overlap, and a tone test cannot separate them on its own. The ear loses high frequencies with age — a normal process called presbycusis — so many adults over 50 hear nothing above about 15 kHz. At the same time, small speakers and phone drivers roll off at the top and bottom of the range, producing little or nothing at the extremes. If you want to estimate where your own hearing stops, the hearing age test sweeps that band directly, and the online hearing test plots a rough audiogram.
Is this a real measurement?
No, and it is worth being blunt about it. This page generates a signal; it does not measure your speakers, your room or your hearing. Judging output properly needs a calibrated microphone and a measurement rig, and judging hearing needs an audiologist. What a tone test genuinely gives you is a pass or fail on simple questions: does this channel make sound, does this driver rattle, can I hear anything up here. For how loud a sound actually is in decibels, use the online decibel meter — and see accuracy & calibration for what a phone microphone can and cannot tell you.
Is it safe for my speakers and my ears?
At low levels, yes. The risk comes from sustained tones at high volume: deep bass can push a driver past its limit, and a continuous tone is more fatiguing and more damaging to hearing than the same level of music. Hearing risk begins around 85 dB over long exposure, which is quieter than most people expect — the decibel levels chart shows where everyday sounds sit. Keep sessions short and the volume modest.
Common questions
How do I test my speakers with tones?
Play a tone at a low volume and listen for it cleanly, then step through the frequency presets from low to high. Use the left-only and right-only settings to confirm each side actually produces sound. Buzzing or rattling on a low tone usually means something is vibrating in the cabinet or the room, not that the speaker is broken.
What frequency should I use to test a subwoofer?
Start around 60 Hz, where most subwoofers are comfortable, then work down to 30 Hz and 20 Hz. Almost no phone or laptop speaker reproduces 20 Hz at all, and hearing nothing there is normal rather than a fault. Keep the level low: sustained deep tones are hard on drivers.
How do I check whether my left and right speakers work?
Set the channel to left only and confirm sound comes from the left side, then switch to right only. If a side stays silent, the problem is the speaker, the cable, the balance setting, or the audio output device. This is the one thing a tone test can tell you definitively.
Can I hear 20 kHz?
Most adults cannot. High-frequency hearing fades with age, and the top of the range is also where cheap tweeters and phone speakers roll off, so silence at 17 kHz or 20 kHz can be your gear, your ears, or both. Our hearing age test estimates where your own ceiling sits.
Does this measure how loud my speakers are?
No. This tool only plays a tone; it makes no measurement and does not use your microphone. To find out how many decibels something actually produces, you need a sound level meter, such as the free in-browser decibel meter on our homepage.