Test your sound in the browser.
Free tools for checking speakers, headphones, subwoofers and microphones. Nothing to install, and no audio ever leaves your device.
Pick a test
Speaker Test
Check that each speaker plays, left and right, and that the balance sits in the middle.
Headphone Test
Polarity, channel swap and stereo imaging, for headphones and stereo pairs.
Bass & Subwoofer Test
Sweep 20-200 Hz and fire low bursts to hear where your bass stops.
Microphone Test
Watch the level move as you speak, then record a few seconds and hear yourself back.
Tone Generator
Any frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz in four waveforms, plus a sweep between two.
Noise Generator
White, pink and brown noise, for testing speakers or masking sound.
Hearing Range Test
Step up through the high frequencies and find where they fade out on your equipment.
Surround Sound Test
Step through every speaker of a 5.1 or 7.1 system, one at a time.
What's wrong? Start here
Find the symptom closest to yours. Each row names what usually causes it and the tool that tells you more.
| What you notice | What usually causes it | What to run | Further reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| No sound at all | The wrong output device is selected, the system volume is muted, or a cable is out | Tone generator, to ask one question at a time | — |
| Sound from one side only | A loose or failed cable, a dead driver, or the balance setting pushed to one side | Speaker test | — |
| Left and right are swapped | Crossed speaker cables, or headphones worn the wrong way round | Headphone test | — |
| Thin, hollow sound with no centre | One speaker wired with its plus and minus reversed | Headphone test, polarity check | — |
| Hum or buzz, even with nothing playing | Mains hum, often a ground loop between two powered devices | Tone generator: play 50 Hz, then 60 Hz, to hear which one your hum matches | Mains hum, Ground loop |
| Crackling or popping | A loose connector, a damaged cable, or a driver near the end of its life | Frequency sweep, to find where it rattles | — |
| Distorted at high volume | Clipping: the amplifier or the signal is being driven past its maximum | Tone generator: raise the level slowly and note where it breaks up | Clipping |
| No bass | Small speakers that cannot reproduce it, or a subwoofer that is off, unplugged or set up wrong | Bass & subwoofer test | — |
| Microphone not picking up | Permission blocked, the input muted, or the wrong device selected | Microphone test | — |
Questions
Is it safe to play test tones?
Yes, if you start quiet. Every tool starts at a low level, -20 dBFS, but the site cannot see your system volume, so turn it down before pressing play and raise it gradually. High frequencies can be much louder than they sound.
Does anything get uploaded?
No audio does. Every sound is generated on your device as it plays, and audio captured by the microphone tools never leaves your device. The privacy page sets out exactly what the site's host can see.
Can this test my hearing?
The hearing range test shows roughly where the top of your hearing is on your equipment. It is not a hearing test in the medical sense and cannot diagnose hearing loss; for that, see an audiologist.
Why does the microphone test show dBFS and not decibels?
dBFS measures how close the signal is to the loudest value your audio system can represent. A true sound-pressure reading needs a calibrated microphone, which laptops, headsets and phones do not have.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The tools run in any modern browser, on a computer or a phone, with nothing to download and no account to create.