Headphone Test
Check left and right channels, bass and treble on any headphones.
Pick a check above. Wear your headphones the right way round.
Checks run
0 / 5
Your test runs locally in your browser. No device data is uploaded.
How to use the headphone test
Put your headphones on the right way round and work through the checks in order. Channels first, because a reversed or dead channel is the most common fault and the easiest to miss in normal listening. Then bass and treble, which show whether the drivers cover the range they should.
What each check is for
The left and right checks play a tone into one channel only. Sound arriving in the wrong ear means reversed channels, which is almost always a cable, adapter or wearing-them-backwards problem rather than a fault. Silence in one ear means a dead driver, a broken cable, or a balance setting pushed to one side.
The bass check plays a low tone that small drivers struggle with. Rattling or buzzing at a moderate volume suggests a damaged driver or housing, and it will usually affect one ear only. The treble check plays a high tone that many adults simply cannot hear, so silence there is as likely to be your ears as your headphones.
Headphones, earbuds and headsets
All of them present to the browser as a stereo output, so these checks apply equally to over-ear headphones, in-ear earphones, wireless earbuds and gaming headsets. If your headset also has a microphone, that is a separate device and needs the microphone test.
Bluetooth adds one wrinkle: some headsets switch to a low-quality mono profile when a microphone is active, which makes the stereo checks meaningless. Close anything using the microphone before testing.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this work for earbuds and headsets too?
- Yes. Headphones, earbuds, earphones and gaming headsets all connect as a stereo output, so the same checks apply. If your headset has a microphone, test that separately with the microphone test.
- The left and right checks come from the wrong sides.
- Your channels are reversed. Check you are not wearing the headphones backwards, then check any adapter or extension cable, since cheap ones occasionally swap the channels. On a desktop, crossed cables at the back of the machine are the usual cause.
- I cannot hear the treble tone at all.
- That may be your hearing rather than the hardware. Sensitivity above roughly 12 kHz declines with age, and many adults over 40 hear nothing at 15 kHz. If a younger listener can hear it on the same headphones, the headphones are fine.
- The bass tone rattles or buzzes.
- Lower the volume first, because a driver pushed past its limit distorts even when healthy. If it still rattles at a moderate level, the driver or its housing is damaged, and the fault will usually be in one ear only.