Headphone test

How to use the headphone test

1. Put your headphones on, turn your volume down and click Start headphone test.
2. In Channels, play Left, Center and Right, and after each one say which ear you heard it in.
3. In Balance, click Play balance check, follow the square as the sound moves from ear to ear, and say how it moved.
4. In Sweep, click Play sweep to hear a tone glide from 20 Hz up to 20 kHz. Press I hear it when the tone appears and It’s gone when it fades away.
5. In Bass and Polarity, play each tone or version and mark what you heard.

The Volume slider starts at 30% or lower. A sweep starts at 50% at most, and the page lowers the slider to 50% when you play a sweep or leave Bass. The sound stops when you switch to another tab or leave the page, and Stop test ends it at once.

What the results mean

The results come only from your answers, because a browser cannot hear your headphones. Channels gives a verdict for left, right and center, and the balance check adds its own finding once you have answered it.

Audible range shows your headphones and ears together. The sweep runs from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and every octave takes the same time. The marks land a little late because you need a moment to react, and they are rounded to two significant digits, such as 37 Hz or 16 kHz. A longer sweep, 40 seconds instead of 20, makes the marks more precise.

Lowest clean bass is the lowest of the 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Hz tones that you marked Clean. None means you marked all five and none was clean. Over-ear headphones usually go lower than small earbuds, which often stop somewhere between 30 and 100 Hz, especially when they do not seal in the ear. Buzzing means distortion, and a tone played too loud can make any headphones distort.

Polarity (also called phase) plays the same noise in both ears twice. In version 1 both sides move together, so the sound is full and sits in the middle. In version 2 one side is turned upside down, as if its + and − wires were swapped, so the bass cancels and the sound spreads out. No difference is not a fault, since on many headphones the difference is subtle. On a mono output, version 2 cancels out to silence, and the test says it cannot work.

Headphones not working?

The headphone test needs no permission, so it starts as soon as you click.

No sound at all

Click Start headphone test first, because the browser lets a page play sound only after you have interacted with it. Then check that the headphones are connected and switched on, your system volume is up, and the test’s Volume slider is not at 0. The test asks Safari on iPhone to play even when the phone is set to silent; if you still hear nothing, check the silent mode and the volume buttons.

Sound comes from the speakers

The test plays through your system’s default output. Select your headphones in the system sound settings: on Windows, click the speaker icon in the taskbar; on a Mac, open Control Center > Sound or System Settings > Sound > Output. Then click Stop test and start again.

Left and right swapped

Check the L and R marks on the earcups, then any setting in your system or audio app that swaps channels.

Both ears hear the same sound

Something mixes the sound down to mono. Turn off Mono audio in the accessibility settings (Windows: Settings > Accessibility > Audio; macOS: System Settings > Accessibility > Audio; iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual). A mono adapter gives the same result.

One ear is quiet or silent

Push the plug in fully and try another cable or port. Check the balance in your system sound settings, and clean the earbud mesh. For Bluetooth headphones, reconnect them and test again.

Sound is thin on Bluetooth headphones

When a call app or a game chat has the headset’s microphone open, many Bluetooth headphones switch to a call mode with lower quality. The Output cell shows the sample rate, and the sweep stops at half of it, so a low rate such as 16 kHz cuts the range short. Close the app that holds the microphone and reconnect the headphones.

Sweep marks seem late

Bluetooth delays the sound by about 0.1 to 0.3 seconds. The test allows for the delay your browser reports, but not for your reaction time. Choose the 40-second sweep for more precise marks.

Weak bass

Push earbuds in for a better seal, or try another ear tip size. Turn off sound effects that cut low tones. If a tone buzzes at a low volume too, the headphones cannot play that frequency cleanly, so mark it Distorted.

Browser not supported

If the test shows that your browser does not support it, the browser has no Web Audio. Update it, or open the page in a current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.

How we measure

The test generates every sound in your browser with the Web Audio API, and a browser cannot hear your headphones, so every result comes from your answers; a sweep mark is placed using the output delay the browser reports and rounded to two significant digits. It plays noise bursts for the channels, a 6-second pan of noise from the left ear to the right and back for the balance, and 2-second sine tones at 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Hz for the bass. The sweep is a sine tone that glides from 20 Hz to 20 kHz on a logarithmic scale, and it ends at half of the output’s sample rate when that is below 20 kHz. A browser cannot report the real frequency response of your headphones, the name of the device unless it shares it, or what an app does to the sound before it reaches them.

Frequently asked questions

Can this test check my hearing?

No. The sweep shows what you hear through these headphones at this volume, so the result depends on both and is not a hearing test. For a hearing check, see a doctor or an audiologist.

Why does the sweep sound louder partway through?

The sweep plays at the same level all the way, but human hearing is most sensitive between about 1 and 5 kHz, so that stretch of the sweep sounds far louder than the low and high ends. That is why the test asks you to lower the volume first.

How do I test the left and right earphone?

Put your headphones on, click Start headphone test, then play Left, Center and Right in the Channels section. After each sound, say which ear you heard it in. If the left sound comes from the right ear, the sides are swapped, and the verdict says so.

Does the headphone test work with Bluetooth earbuds?

Yes. Connect the earbuds and select them as the output in your system sound settings before you click Start headphone test. If the sweep marks come late or the sound is thin, see “Sweep marks seem late” and “Sound is thin on Bluetooth headphones” in the troubleshooting section above.

How can I tell if one earphone is quieter than the other?

Use the Balance section. The test moves one noise from the left ear to the right and back in 6 seconds at an even loudness, so a lean, a dip or a jump you hear comes from the headphones or a balance setting, not from the test. Mark how it moved, then check the balance in your system sound settings if it leans.

Is the headphone test private?

Yes. Everything runs in your browser. The test plays sounds it generates, never uses your microphone and records nothing, so no audio and no answers leave your device unless you copy or share the result yourself.