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SOUND TEST

Sound test

Test your speakers or headphones in the browser — check the left and right channels separately, sweep the frequency range, and find where your bass actually starts. Nothing to install, and every result explained below.

Start at a low level and raise it gradually — sustained test tones are more fatiguing than music at the same volume.

1. Left and right channels

Each button plays a 440 Hz tone hard-panned to one side. Both should be clearly audible and about equally loud.

2. Frequency sweep

Sweeps 20 Hz to 20 kHz over 20 seconds. Listen for dropouts and buzzing, not for even loudness — the level is supposed to vary.

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3. Bass test

Step down through the low end. The lowest tone you can actually hear is roughly where your speaker stops working — on a phone that is usually around 300 Hz.

How to read what you just heard

The most common mistake with a speaker test is treating uneven loudness as a fault. Every speaker is uneven across the frequency range — that is what a frequency response is. What matters is whether the change is gradual or sudden.

What you heardWhat it meansWhat to do
Both channels clear and matchedSpeakers are healthyIf it is still quiet, the cause is a setting or the recording
One side silentThat driver has failedRepair — note which side
One side clearly weakerPartial failure, or a blocked grille on that sideClean the grille first, then repair
Sweep drops out suddenlyDamaged driverRepair
Buzz at one specific pitchSomething loose or trappedClean the grille; if it persists, repair
Nothing below ~300 Hz on a phoneCompletely normalNothing — this is physics, not a fault
Distortion only near maximumNormal driver limitNothing
Distortion at moderate levelDamaged driverRepair

Test conditions that change the answer

  • Take the case off. Cases cover speaker grilles more often than people expect.
  • Use a hard surface. Testing on a duvet measures the duvet.
  • Headphones give better data than a phone speaker, because they reproduce far more of the low range and separate the channels physically.
  • Compare against another device if you can. Absolute loudness is hard to judge from memory; a side-by-side is easy.

If everything passes and it is still quiet

Then the speaker is fine and the problem is upstream. In order of how often it is the answer: audio routed to a Bluetooth device you forgot about, loudness normalisation turning your music down, a volume limit, a lint-packed grille, or a recording that was mastered quietly in the first place.

The full walk-through is in iPhone volume low, and if there is no sound at all, volume not working on iPhone covers that separately. For getting more out of a healthy phone, see how to make your phone louder.

When the recording is the problem

A speaker that passes every test still cannot make a quiet file loud. Podcasts, lectures, voice memos and older recordings are frequently mastered far below commercial music, which is the one case where processing the audio genuinely adds level rather than recovering it. That is what Volume Booster does — it plays your own files with gain, a bass dial and a 6-band equalizer applied.

It is worth being precise about the boundary: it boosts the audio it plays itself. On iPhone no app can raise the system volume or make other apps louder, and we explain why in how it works.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I test my speakers online?

Play a tone in the left channel, then the right, and listen for both to be clearly audible at a similar level. Then run a frequency sweep to check the range is continuous with no dropouts or buzzing. Both tests run in your browser with nothing to install.

Why can I hear nothing below 300 Hz on my phone?

That is normal and not a fault. A phone speaker is a driver a few millimetres across in a sealed enclosure, and it physically cannot move enough air to reproduce deep bass. Expect audible output to start somewhere around 300–500 Hz on a phone speaker, and much lower on headphones.

What should a healthy speaker sound like in a sweep?

Continuous. The level will vary across the range and roll off at the bottom, which is expected, but there should be no sudden dropout where sound disappears and no buzz that appears at one pitch and vanishes at the next. Sudden changes are the failure signal, not gradual ones.

How do I know which speaker is broken?

Use the left and right buttons separately. If one side is silent or clearly weaker, that is the failing side. Note which one before booking a repair — it is the single most useful thing you can tell a technician.

Why does my phone sound quiet even though the test passes?

Then the hardware is fine and the cause is upstream: a volume limit, loudness normalisation turning tracks down, a lint-blocked grille, or a recording that was simply mastered quietly. Those are settings and cleaning jobs rather than repairs.

Is it safe to run a speaker test at full volume?

Start at a moderate level. Sustained tones are more fatiguing than music at the same level, and testing at maximum makes it hard to tell whether distortion is a fault or just the driver at its limit. Raise the level gradually if you need to.

Does this work on headphones?

Yes, and headphones give the most useful results because they reproduce far more of the low range than a phone speaker. The left and right test is also more definitive on headphones, since the two channels are physically separated at your ears.

Do I need an app to test my speakers?

No. Everything here runs in the browser using the Web Audio API. An app is not required to generate a test tone, and a browser test also avoids app volume settings confusing the result.

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Make your music louder than ever.

Boost the volume, add deep bass, and fine-tune every track with a 6-band equalizer — all in one simple app.

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