How to use this test
- Turn your volume down first. Tones are level-limited and ramped rather than switched, but start quiet and raise it. Sudden tones at high volume are unpleasant and can damage drivers.
- Play the left channel alone. You should hear it only on the left. If it comes from the right, your channels are swapped somewhere in the chain.
- Play the right channel alone. Same again on the other side. Testing them separately is what makes the fault obvious.
- Answer what you heard. Tell the tool which channels produced sound and it will tell you what the pattern means and what to check.
How do I know which speaker is faulty?
By testing them separately, which is the entire point of this tool. Normal audio is mixed across both channels, so a completely dead left speaker can go unnoticed for weeks — you still hear everything, just thinner and pulled to one side, and the brain adapts to that quickly.
Playing a tone through one channel at a time makes the fault immediate and unambiguous, and it distinguishes three different problems that all sound similar in normal use:
| What you hear | Diagnosis | Most likely cause |
|---|---|---|
| Both channels, correct sides | Working | Nothing wrong with output |
| One channel silent | Dead channel | Cable break, or balance pushed fully to one side |
| Both work, wrong sides | Channels swapped | Crossed cables, or speakers on the wrong sides |
| Neither channel | Output fault | Muted tab, wrong output device, or volume |
Why one earphone stops working
This is the single most common audio complaint, and the cause is nearly always the same: the cable, not the driver.
Headphone cables carry very thin conductors, and they flex constantly at two points — where the cable meets the plug, and where it enters the earcup. Repeated flexing work-hardens the copper until a strand breaks. Because the break is mechanical, the fault is intermittent before it is permanent: sound cuts in and out depending on cable position, then eventually stays gone.
The diagnostic is simple. Play a tone through the dead channel and flex the cable gently at the plug. If the sound crackles or briefly returns, the cable is confirmed and the drivers are fine.
A detachable cable makes this a cheap fix. A moulded one usually means replacement unless you are comfortable soldering a new plug.
Before blaming the hardware
One setting produces a perfectly convincing dead-speaker symptom: the balance slider in your system sound settings. Pushed fully to one side, one channel goes silent and everything else behaves normally. It is easy to knock accidentally, easy to forget, and it costs nothing to check. Do that before you open anything.
What the frequency sweep finds
A single tone tests one point in the range. A sweep tests all of it, and some faults only appear at specific frequencies:
- A buzz at one pitch. Something is resonating — a loose speaker grille, a panel in the cabinet, or an object on your desk. Harmless but irritating, and easy to locate once you know the frequency that triggers it.
- A rattle at low frequencies. Often a damaged woofer surround, or the speaker being driven beyond its excursion limit. If it only happens at high volume, it is the latter.
- Silence at the top of the range. In a multi-driver speaker this can mean a blown tweeter. The woofer keeps working, so the speaker still makes sound and the fault is easy to miss.
- Silence at the top for you specifically. Check with someone younger before concluding anything. Upper-range hearing declines with age in everyone, and most adults over 40 cannot hear above roughly 15 kHz.
No sound at all
Since the tone is generated inside your browser, silence means the fault sits between the browser and your ears. In order:
- Is the tab muted? Browsers mute tabs, and the indicator is small and easy to miss.
- Is the right output device selected? Plugging in HDMI, Bluetooth or a headset silently switches your default. This is the most common cause of a computer that "suddenly has no sound".
- Is system volume up, and the application not separately muted? Windows keeps a per-application mixer, and applications can be muted individually.
- Try headphones. This separates the speakers from the audio output itself in one step.
- Try another application. If nothing anywhere makes sound, it is the output device or driver, not this page.
Related tests
If you can hear others but they cannot hear you, the fault is input rather than output — use the microphone test. The webcam test covers the video side of the same call setup.
Frequently asked questions
Why is only one speaker working?
On headphones this is nearly always the cable rather than the driver. The wire fails where it flexes most, which is right at the plug or where it enters the earcup, and the failure is usually intermittent at first. Wiggle the cable at the plug while a tone plays — if the sound cuts in and out, you have found it. On desktop speakers, the connection between the two units is more often at fault than either speaker.
Why is there no sound at all from my computer?
Since this test generates the tone inside your browser, silence means the fault is between the browser and your ears. Check four things in order: the tab is not muted (browsers mute tabs and it is easy to miss), the system volume is up, the correct output device is selected, and the connection is properly seated. Plugging in HDMI or a headset silently switches your default output, which is the most common cause of a computer that suddenly has no sound.
Why are my left and right channels swapped?
Either the speakers are physically on the wrong sides of the desk, or the cables are crossed at the back. It is surprisingly common and almost nobody notices until they test it deliberately, because most content is broadly centred. On headphones, check the L and R markings — they are often moulded into the plastic rather than printed and can be hard to see.
What is the frequency sweep for?
It plays a tone that rises smoothly from 40 Hz to 16 kHz, which reveals faults a single tone cannot. A buzz or rattle that appears at one specific pitch and then disappears usually means a damaged driver, a loose panel on the speaker cabinet, or something on your desk resonating. A range that goes silent entirely can indicate a blown driver in a multi-driver speaker — the tweeter can fail while the woofer still works.
What frequencies should I be able to hear?
Healthy young hearing covers roughly 20 Hz to 20 kHz, but the top end declines with age — this is normal and universal. Most adults over 40 stop hearing above about 15 kHz, and many over 60 above 12 kHz. If the sweep goes silent at the top for you but your speakers reproduce it fine on someone else, that is your hearing rather than the hardware, and it is not something to worry about.
Why does my audio crackle or pop?
Crackling is usually a connection or a driver problem rather than the speakers themselves. On a 3.5 mm jack, a partly inserted or dirty plug causes exactly this. Otherwise it is often a sample-rate mismatch or a power-saving setting in your audio driver. Try a different port, then check whether your system audio settings have an exclusive-mode or enhancements option that can be disabled.
Is this test safe for my speakers?
Yes, with normal care. Tones are limited to a modest level and are ramped up and down rather than switched on and off, because an abrupt start produces a click and clicks are what actually damage drivers at volume. That said, turn your volume down before you start and raise it gradually — this applies to any test tone, from any source.