Speaker & Headphone Test
Three quick checks: that each channel plays on the correct side, that the full frequency range comes through cleanly, and — just for fun — how high your own hearing goes. Start at a moderate volume.
1 · Channel check
The tone should come from exactly the side named — if it's swapped, your plugs or balance settings are reversed.
2 · Frequency tone
The sweep should rise smoothly with no dropouts, rattles, or sudden jumps in volume.
3 · How high can you hear?
Start low and move up until you hear nothing. Most adults top out between 14 and 17 kHz — hearing range declines naturally with age. Keep the volume moderate: this is an informal check, not a medical hearing test.
Swapped channels are the most common finding here — usually headphones worn backwards or a balance slider knocked sideways in OS settings, not broken hardware. On the sweep, listen for buzzes and rattles (a loose driver or something resonating on your desk) and for bands where volume dips or vanishes. The hearing-range presets are an informal curiosity, not audiology: most adults hear up to 14–17 kHz, teenagers to ~19 kHz, and the ceiling drops naturally with age. Note that many laptop speakers physically can't reproduce much above 15 kHz or below 100 Hz — silence up there may be the speaker's limit, not your ears'.