01 Channel check
Left and right speaker test.
Tap a speaker. The pulse should come from that side only. If it comes from both, or the wrong side, check your cables and your system's balance setting.
Tap a speaker to begin.
Free audio tool
Speaker test.
Check left and right channels, polarity, frequency range and bass on any speakers or headphones, right in your browser. Built by a working sound studio and measured sample by sample, so what you hear is the test, not the tool.
- Start quiet. System volume around 20%, then use the level control.
- One tap plays, a second tap stops. Esc stops everything.
- Headphones? Check they're on the right way round first.
- Reviewing a mix from us? Run the 60-second check.
02 How high can you hear
High frequency test.
Basic speakers stop around 15 kHz; good tweeters reach 20 kHz. Silence can be your speakers — or your ears. Tones pulse to protect tweeters.
03 Polarity
Speaker polarity test.
Sit centred. In phase should sound focused with solid bass; out of phase wide, hollow and thin. If it's the other way round, one speaker's + and − wires are swapped.
Watch the console: in phase the two traces overlap, out of phase they mirror.
04 Any frequency
Tone generator.
440HzA4 +0¢
05 Bass to treble
Frequency sweep test.
A 20-second glide from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Tap Mark when you first hear it, when anything rattles, and when it disappears.
06 Noise
White, pink and brown noise.
Pink is what engineers use to balance a system. All three play at the same loudness, so you can compare them fairly.
Band
Troubleshooting
No sound, wrong side, weak bass.
No sound at all
Check the browser tab isn't muted, the level control here isn't set to Off, and your computer is sending sound to the right output (built-in speakers, HDMI TV or Bluetooth). On a phone, raise the media volume, not the ringer.
Left plays from both speakers
Mono audio is switched on somewhere. Turn it off in macOS (Accessibility → Audio), Windows (Accessibility → Audio → Mono audio), iPhone (Accessibility → Audio & Visual) or Android (Accessibility → Mono audio). A single Bluetooth speaker is also mono by design.
Left and right are swapped
Check your headphones are the right way round, the balance slider in your sound settings is centred, and the speaker cables are in the correct amplifier outputs.
Bass sounds weak or hollow
Play the polarity test. If “in phase” sounds thinner than “out of phase”, one speaker is wired + to −. Swap the two wires on one speaker only.
Rattling or buzzing
Run the sweep and tap Mark when it happens. Lower the level, then check for loose grilles, panels, desk items or a port that’s blocked.
High tones disappear
It can be the speaker’s limit, an EQ or enhancement setting, or natural hearing — most adults lose the top few kHz with age. Compare with headphones or a younger listener.
Sound works here but not in another app?
If you can hear these tones, your speakers, cables and system output are working. The problem is almost always the app.
- Check the app’s own mute button and volume slider, and the player inside the page (common on video sites).
- Open the per-app volume mixer (Windows: Settings → System → Sound → Volume mixer) and make sure the app isn’t turned down.
- Zoom, Teams, Discord and games choose their own output device. Select the same speakers there.
- Bluetooth headsets drop into a low-quality mono “headset” mode during calls. That’s normal, not a fault.
- Close apps that can take exclusive control of the sound card (DAWs, some games), then try again.
Step by step
How to test speakers and headphones.
A full check takes about ten minutes. Work through it in this order.
- 01
Set a safe level
Put your system volume around 20% and leave the level control here at −20 dB. Raise it gradually — high tones at full level can damage tweeters and ears.
- 02
Check left and right
Tap Left, then Right. Each pulse should come from one side only. Tap Both: it should sound centred between the speakers.
- 03
Check polarity
Sit centred and play In phase, then Out of phase. In phase should sound focused with fuller bass. If it doesn’t, one speaker is wired backwards.
- 04
Run the frequency sweep
Play the 20-second sweep and tap Mark when you first hear the bass, whenever something rattles, and when the treble disappears. Laptop and phone speakers usually start somewhere between 100 and 200 Hz.
- 05
Compare with noise
Play pink noise and walk between your speakers — the level and tone should sound the same from each. Choose the Sub band to check a subwoofer on its own.
- 06
Test the top end
Tap the high-frequency tones from 8 kHz upward. Stop at the first one you can’t hear, then compare with headphones to see whether it’s the speakers or your ears.
In the studio
How audio engineers use these tests.
None of these signals were invented for a web page. They are the everyday checks of a mixing and mastering room — the same ones our engineers rely on before a single fader moves.
Pink noise → matching speaker levels
Played through one speaker at a time, pink noise lets an engineer set left, right and subwoofer to the same loudness, so a mix isn’t built on a lopsided room.
Sweeps → finding room problems
A slow sweep exposes the frequencies where a room booms, a desk rattles or a speaker port chuffs — problems that would otherwise end up ‘fixed’ in the mix and wrong everywhere else.
Polarity → wiring and microphones
A reversed cable on one monitor makes bass disappear and the stereo image go vague. The same principle is checked on multi-microphone recordings, where one flipped mic can hollow out a whole instrument.
Left, right and mono → translation
Most listeners hear music on a phone or a single Bluetooth speaker. Engineers constantly check that a mix survives mono, with vocals and bass still solid in the centre.
High frequencies → knowing your limits
Every engineer knows where their own hearing and their speakers roll off, and cross-checks the top end on headphones rather than trusting one system.
For our clients
Reviewing a mix from us? Run this 60-second check.
Before you send feedback on a mix, master or jingle, make sure your playback isn’t colouring what you hear. Most “the bass is too loud” or “the vocal sounds off-centre” notes turn out to be the listening setup.
- 01Tap Left and Right above — each should come from one side only.
- 02Play the polarity test — in phase should sound fuller than out of phase.
- 03Switch off bass boost, EQ presets, spatial audio and “enhancements” on your phone or computer.
- 04Listen at a moderate level, once on headphones and once on speakers or your phone.
- 05Then send notes with timestamps — and tell us what you listened on.
The science
What’s behind each test.
Four different decibels
dBFS is level relative to digital full scale — what this page's level control uses, and the only one a browser can know exactly. dB SPL is sound pressure in the air, which needs a calibrated microphone. dBA weights SPL towards human hearing. dB HL is hearing level on an audiogram and needs calibrated headphones, so no web page can measure it honestly.
Why the level control is in dB
Loudness perception is roughly logarithmic, so each decibel step sounds like the same change. −6 dB halves the signal's amplitude, and about −10 dB sounds half as loud. A percentage slider crams most of the useful range into its bottom quarter.
White, pink and brown noise
White noise has equal energy per hertz, so every octave is 3 dB louder than the one below and it sounds hissy. Pink noise has equal energy per octave and sounds balanced, which is why engineers use it to set speaker levels. Brown noise falls a further 3 dB per octave and sounds like a distant rumble. Here all three are matched to the same loudness.
Why the sweep is exponential
Hearing and speakers work in octaves, so the sweep spends equal time in each: from 20 Hz to 20 kHz is about ten octaves, two seconds apiece. A linear sweep would spend almost all its time above 200 Hz and rush through the bass you most need to hear.
What polarity really changes
If one speaker's wires are swapped, it pushes while the other pulls. Long bass wavelengths cancel between the two, so the bass thins out and the image goes wide and vague. The effect is strongest at low frequencies, which is why the polarity test uses a 150 Hz tone.
The highest tone a device can play
Digital audio can only represent frequencies below half the sample rate: 22,050 Hz at 44.1 kHz and 24,000 Hz at 48 kHz. Most sound cards also filter from around 20 kHz, so silence on the 22 kHz tone is normal. Human hearing tops out near 20 kHz in youth and falls with age.
Why some tests seem silent on phones
Browsers only allow sound after you tap, which is why nothing plays until you press a test. On iPhone the ring/silent switch can mute web audio; this page asks Safari to treat its sound as media playback, and the media volume — not the ringer — controls it. Small phone and laptop speakers usually stop producing bass somewhere below 100–200 Hz.
Method
How this test works.
Every signal is generated live in your browser with the Web Audio API. Nothing is downloaded and nothing is uploaded.
The level control is in decibels relative to digital full scale (dBFS): −20 dB is one tenth of full amplitude, and each step sounds like the same change in loudness. Tones fade in over 12 ms and out over 30 ms, so nothing clicks.
The left/right test sends a pulsed 1 kHz tone to one channel and true digital silence to the other. White, pink and brown noise are all normalised to the same level (−12 dBFS RMS before the level control), so switching colours never jumps in loudness.
We verify the output by measurement, not by ear alone: 48 automated signal tests, and 133 checks in Chrome, Firefox and Safari on desktop, Android, iPhone and iPad.
Built and tested by Abu Bakar Zahid, Founder, Managing Director & Music Producer at Elephant Audio. Last updated 24 September 2026.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions.
How do I test if my speakers are working?
Start with the left and right test above: each pulse should come from one speaker only. Then run the frequency sweep to hear the full range from deep bass to treble, listening for rattles or sudden drops in volume.
Why does an audio studio make a speaker test?
Because the listening setup decides what people hear. Elephant Audio produces music, sound design and mixes for film, advertising and digital campaigns, and we ask clients to check their playback before reviewing work. This page is that check, made public and free for everyone.
Why does the left test play from both speakers?
Your device is set to mono audio, or you are using a single Bluetooth speaker. Turn off mono audio in your accessibility settings and the left and right tones will separate.
How do I know if my speakers are out of phase?
Play the polarity test. In phase should sound focused in the centre with solid bass; out of phase sounds wide, hollow and thin. If in phase is the weaker one, the + and − wires on one speaker are reversed.
How do I test my subwoofer?
Choose pink noise with the Sub band (20–80 Hz), or run the frequency sweep and tap Mark when the subwoofer starts and stops. Raise the level a little — bass sounds quieter than midrange at the same setting.
What frequencies should I be able to hear?
Human hearing runs roughly from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and the top end falls with age. Most adults hear 12 kHz, many people under 40 hear 15 kHz, and 17.4 kHz — the “mosquito” tone — is usually only heard by younger listeners.
Can I test headphones and earbuds?
Yes. The left and right test confirms each earpiece is on the correct side, and the sweep and noise tests show how far the bass and treble extend. Start at a low level with headphones.
Is this test safe for my speakers?
Yes at sensible levels. Start at −20 dB with your system volume low, and raise it slowly. The high-frequency tones play in short pulses to protect tweeters; avoid long, loud playback of any test tone.
What is the difference between white, pink and brown noise?
White noise has equal energy at every frequency and sounds like hiss. Pink noise has equal energy in every octave and sounds balanced, which is why engineers use it to set up speakers. Brown noise is deeper still, like a distant waterfall.
Studio credit
Elephant Audio
Audio production · Sound design · Music production
LahorePKEngineering sound since 2018
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