Headphone Test

How to use this headphone test

This headphone test walks you through four short checks: left, right, stereo and bass. It takes about a minute and works with over-ear headphones, earbuds and gaming headsets. You can test headphones here with nothing to install and no sign-up.

Before you start, make sure you're wearing your headphones the right way round. Most have a small "L" and "R" printed inside the headband, on the ear cups or on the stems of the earbuds. Then lower your device volume to about a quarter. Test sounds can be louder than music, and you can always turn it up after the first sound.

Press Start Headphone Test. Each step plays a short sound and tells you what you should hear. Answer I heard it or I didn't hear it, or press Play again if you're not sure. At the end you'll see a simple summary of your answers, with a few suggestions if something didn't sound right.

Prefer to switch channels yourself? Open Free mode and use Left, Both, Right or Alternate, which swaps sides every second. It's handy when you're wiggling a cable or swapping earbuds and want quick feedback.

What each step checks

• Left and right: The first two steps send sound to only one channel. If a sound meant for your left ear comes from the right, or from both sides at once, something in the chain is swapped or set to mono.
• Stereo: The third step moves a sound smoothly from left to right and back. It should travel through the middle of your head without jumping or fading out. If it leans to one side, a balance setting or a weaker driver is the usual cause.
• Bass: The last step sweeps a low tone downward. Over-ear headphones usually play deeper bass than earbuds, and earbuds depend heavily on a good seal in your ear.

Your summary is based only on what you tell us. This headphone tester can't measure your headphones or detect a fault by itself, but your answers are a quick way to narrow down where a problem might be.

One side is silent or quieter — what to try

Work through these steps in order, and run the test again after each one so you know which change made the difference.

1. Unplug the cable and push it back in firmly. Try another port, or remove any adapter or extension cable.
2. For Bluetooth earbuds, put both buds back in the case for a few seconds, then reconnect. Check that both are charged.
3. Check your system's balance setting. On Windows, look in Sound settings under your output device's properties. On a Mac, go to System Settings → Sound → Output and check the Balance slider. On iPhone, it's under Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual → Balance. On Android, look in Accessibility for audio adjustment or balance.
4. Turn off Mono Audio in accessibility settings if it's on.
5. Gently clean the mesh of the quieter earbud. Earwax and dust often block it and make one side sound muffled.
6. Try a different pair of headphones on the same device. If the problem moves with the headphones, it's the headphones. If it stays, it's the device or its settings.

If one side still cuts in and out when you move the cable near the plug, the wire may be damaged inside. That's common with older wired headphones and usually means replacing the cable or the headphones.

Left and right are reversed?

First, double-check that you're wearing them correctly — it's an easy mistake with earbuds that look alike. If they're on the right way, run the Left step again. Hearing it on the right means the channels really are swapped somewhere.

The swap is usually in software. Some audio drivers, equalizer apps and games have a "swap channels" or "reverse stereo" option. Less often, it's an adapter or a cable wired the wrong way. Change one thing at a time and test after each change.

Wired vs Bluetooth headphones

This headphones test works with both. With wired headphones, problems usually come from the plug, the port or an adapter, such as a USB-C to headphone jack dongle. Trying a different port or adapter is the fastest way to rule these out.

Bluetooth headphones often add their own processing, such as spatial audio, head tracking or noise cancellation. These features can change how the stereo step sounds, so switch them off for the clearest result. If your headphones are paired with more than one device, make sure the sound is actually coming from the device you're testing.

Bluetooth also adds a small delay between the button press and the sound. That's normal, and this site doesn't measure latency.

Testing speakers instead?

The same idea works for desktop speakers, TVs and laptops. If you're running a quick speaker test or a general sound test, use our Left Right Speaker Test to play sound on each speaker, or the Bass Test to check a subwoofer. Laptop and phone speakers are close together, so left and right will sound less separated than on headphones — that's expected. Need a specific frequency? Try the Tone Generator.

Your privacy

Every sound on this page is generated on your device with the Web Audio API. We don't use your microphone, and nothing you hear or click is recorded or uploaded. Your volume and last settings are saved only in your browser, and you can clear them at any time with Reset settings at the bottom of the page.