Before you start
Turn your volume down to about a third. Test tones are pure and steady, so they can sound louder than music at the same volume, especially in headphones. Raise it gradually if you need to.
Left and right speaker test
Press ◀ Left, Both or Right ▶. You'll hear three short beeps from that side only. If the left test plays from your right ear, your headphones are on backwards or your speakers are swapped. If you hear both tests from both sides, your device may be set to mono audio (check the accessibility settings) or you're using a mono speaker such as many single smart speakers.
Frequency sweep: how low and high can you hear?
The sweep glides from 20 Hz (a deep rumble) to 20,000 Hz (a very high whine) over 20 seconds, with the current frequency shown on screen. Note the frequency where you first hear the sound and where it fades out. Two things set those points: your speakers or headphones, and your ears. Small laptop and phone speakers usually start somewhere above 100–200 Hz. Most adults stop hearing high tones somewhere between 14,000 and 17,000 Hz, and the top end drops with age, so don't worry if you lose the sound before 20 kHz.
Bass test
The bass buttons play a steady low tone for four seconds. Use them to check a subwoofer is connected, find which bass notes your speakers can actually produce, and listen for buzzing or rattling, which can mean a damaged speaker cone or something loose in the room vibrating along. Start with 80 or 100 Hz, then work down.
No sound at all?
- Check the device isn't muted and the right output is selected (in Windows, the speaker icon in the taskbar; on a Mac, Control Centre → Sound).
- Make sure Bluetooth headphones are connected to this device and not another one nearby.
- Phones: flip the silent switch off and press the volume buttons while a test is playing.
- Some browsers only allow sound after you click on the page, so press a test button again if the first one was silent.