This online speaker test plays a tone through your left channel, right channel, or both together, so you can confirm each speaker or headphone driver is actually producing sound. It uses the Web Audio API to generate the tone directly in your browser, offers a device picker for switching between connected outputs, and needs nothing more than a modern browser to run.
A stereo signal only tells you the whole system works if you check the left and right channels separately. This test generates a pure sine tone and routes it through the browser's stereo panner, so you can play the tone in the left channel alone, then the right, then both together. If one side stays silent while the other plays cleanly, that side's speaker, its cable, or its amplifier channel is the problem, not your source material. A quick left/right check like this also catches a common wiring mistake, channels swapped left for right, which usually reveals itself in music but not in a plain tone.
Speakers do not reproduce every frequency equally. This test lets you switch between a low tone (100 Hz), a reference tone at concert pitch A4 (440 Hz), a mid tone (1000 Hz) and a high tone (8000 Hz), covering bass, midrange and treble. Small or cheap speakers often struggle to reproduce the lowest tone at any real volume, which is normal, but a tone that produces no sound at any setting points to a genuine fault rather than a limitation. The full range of human hearing is roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, and this test's presets sit inside that range so you can judge what you should be able to hear.
If your system has more than one audio output connected, the device picker lets you send the test tone to a specific one, such as a USB DAC, a set of headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. Choosing an output device from the browser is only supported in Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome and Edge; Firefox and Safari currently route audio to whichever device is set as your system default, so the picker will have no effect there. Either way, everything happens locally through the Web Audio API: no audio is uploaded, recorded or sent anywhere, and the tone stops the moment you click stop or leave the page.
How this test works
This test creates a Web Audio OscillatorNode at the chosen frequency and routes it through a StereoPannerNode to the left channel, the right channel or both. The tone is generated in your browser rather than downloaded, so there is no audio file and no request. Browsers start an AudioContext suspended until a user gesture, which is why the first tone needs a click. Where the channel physically ends up is the operating system's decision, not ours.
How to use the speaker test
- Click a channel button (left, right or both) to start the test tone.
- Pick a frequency preset to check bass, mid and treble response.
- If more than one output device is listed, select the one you want to test.
- Listen for the tone from the correct speaker, at a comfortable volume.
- Click stop when you are done, or switch channels to keep testing.
Reference tables
These are server-rendered, so they are readable without running the test and quotable without running any JavaScript. Where a figure comes from a specification it is cited under the table; where it is our own judgement, the table says so.
| What it measures | What it cannot see |
|---|---|
| Whether a tone reaches the left channel, the right channel or both | Which physical speaker plays it, once the OS has applied its own routing or upmixing |
| That your browser can create an AudioContext and play audio at all | Your speaker's frequency response, distortion or maximum level |
| Channel balance problems, because left and right play separately | Whether a missing channel is the cable, the jack, the amplifier or the driver |
Compiled by MyGearCheck from the browser APIs each test uses. Every limit listed here is a limit of the browser, not of your hardware.
| Tone | Range it represents | What it checks | If you hear nothing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Hz | Bass | Whether the driver reproduces low frequencies at all | Small laptop and phone speakers genuinely cannot produce much at 100 Hz. That is physics, not a fault. |
| 440 Hz | Lower mid (the A above middle C) | The most audible band, and the safest reference tone | If this one is silent while others are not, suspect routing or balance rather than the speaker. |
| 1000 Hz | Mid | The band voices sit in, and the usual reference for level checks | Silence here on a working system almost always points at the output device selection. |
| 8000 Hz | Treble | Whether high frequencies reach you | Hearing sensitivity above 8 kHz declines with age, so a missing 8 kHz tone is not automatically a speaker fault. |
The frequencies are the ones this test generates through the Web Audio API. The guidance in the last column is our own, written to keep you from returning a speaker that is working as designed. Start at a low volume: an 8 kHz tone at high volume is unpleasant and can be harmful.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there no sound at all?
Check your system volume and mute state first, then confirm the correct output device is selected in the picker if you have more than one. If the tone plays in one browser but not another, or plays through headphones but not speakers, the fault is more likely a setting than the hardware itself.
Can I choose which speaker or headphones the sound plays through?
Yes, if your browser supports it. Chrome and Edge let you pick an output device from the list next to the test controls. Firefox and Safari do not currently support choosing an output device from a web page, so the tone plays through whatever device your operating system has set as default.
Is it safe to play these test tones at high volume?
Start at a low volume and increase gradually, the same as with any audio source. Sustained loud tones, especially at higher frequencies, can be uncomfortable or harmful to hearing over time, so there is no need to run the test louder than a normal listening level.
Why does the left/right test matter if my music sounds fine?
Some content is mixed close to mono, so a dead channel is easy to miss during normal listening. A dedicated left/right tone isolates each side completely, which is the fastest way to catch one silent speaker or a swapped channel that music alone might hide.
Why does the first tone need a click?
Browsers start an AudioContext suspended until a user gesture, to stop pages making noise on their own. The first click resumes it, after which the tones play immediately.
Can I hear whether my speakers are wired the wrong way round?
Yes, and it is the clearest use of this test. Play the left channel alone: if the sound comes from your right, the channels are swapped somewhere between the output and the speakers.
I cannot hear the 100 Hz tone. Is something broken?
Almost certainly not. Small drivers in laptops, phones and monitors physically cannot move enough air to reproduce 100 Hz at a useful level, so judge those devices on the mid and treble tones instead.
Does the test measure volume in decibels?
No. A browser has no calibrated reference for sound pressure, so any decibel figure a web page shows you is meaningless. The test tells you whether a channel produces sound, not how loud it is in absolute terms.
Guides for this test
The test shows you what is happening. These explain what to do about it.
More hardware tests
The closest tests to this one are the rest of the audio & video group. Working through a whole machine instead? The full check runs everything in order and ends in one report.
Everything else in the suite: