Test your speakers, headphones or earbuds for channel balance, frequency response, buzzing and distortion. Start at a low volume and raise it gradually.
Only one side should produce sound. If both play, or one side is silent, a channel is wired or amplified incorrectly.
Ready
Ready
Plays a slow sweep through the full audible range. A healthy system plays smoothly with no gaps, buzzing, or a sudden drop. Set your volume to about 60% first.
Most people with healthy hearing stop hearing clearly around 14–16 kHz. Presbyopia (age-related hearing loss) usually lowers that ceiling. Below about 50 Hz you should feel the tone more than hear it.
Click any frequency to hold a steady tone. These are the standard test points used to check for rattles, blown drivers and weak bass.
This level meter shows the peak output of the last sound played. Play loud music, then watch the bar. Hitting the far right means the output is clipping, which is what causes harsh distortion.
This meter reflects the signal your browser sends to the sound card, not the acoustic pressure in the room. It confirms your system chain is clean; it cannot measure how loud the room actually is.
The speaker is unplugged, the wire is damaged, or an amplifier channel has failed. Cheap speakers with a separate left/right wire are the usual culprit — reseat both wires at the terminal plate.
Below about 200 Hz this is usually a loose object on the desk vibrating, or a panel resonance. Move the speaker and listen again. Buzzing at all frequencies points to a grounding or interference fault.
Check that nothing is covering the driver. Earbuds are the usual cause: a mesh clogged with earwax cuts high frequencies first, making everything sound like it is underwater.
Both age-related hearing loss and cheap drivers lose treble first. Have someone else run the sweep and compare. If they hear past 16 kHz and you do not, it is your hearing, not the speaker.
Turn the system volume down and the amplifier up. Your amp is likely more powerful than your speakers and is driving them past their limit.
Yes, and it is one of the fastest ways to find a failed earpiece or speaker. Use headphones for the channel test, since phone speakers are almost always mono at low frequencies.
A healthy 20–20,000 Hz system is smooth to about 18–20 kHz. Consumer speakers and earphones rarely exceed 16–18 kHz, which is normal.
Digital Full Scale. 0 dBFS is the maximum a digital system can represent. Anything pinned at 0 is clipping. -6 dBFS leaves healthy headroom.
Not necessarily. The 16 kHz "teenage hearing" test is a myth — a 20-year-old and a 60-year-old have a similar ceiling. Sudden drops on one side, or a new inability to hear high pitches, are worth a hearing test.
Browsers block audio until you interact with the page. That is a privacy feature, not a fault with this test.