How to test your phone speaker
- Set the volume to about 70 percent. Full volume can hide rattles behind distortion.
- Tap Left, then Right. On a phone with stereo speakers, one plays from the earpiece and the other from the bottom speaker.
- Tap Both and listen for equal loudness.
- Tap Full sweep and listen from the low rumble to the high whistle for any buzz, rattle or drop-out.
What the results mean
- One side clearly quieter: that grille is blocked. Run Dust mode, or Ear speaker mode if it is the earpiece.
- Dull, underwater sound: water in the grille. Run Water mode.
- A buzz at one point in the sweep: a loose particle resonating on the mesh. Run Dust mode, then Deep clean.
- Crackle at every frequency and volume: likely a damaged cone or loose connector. That needs a repair.
- Left and Right sound the same from one speaker: your phone has a single mono speaker, which is normal on many budget models.
About the sweep
The sweep glides from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Phone speakers cannot reproduce the lowest part, so silence for the first second or two is expected. Most adults also stop hearing the tone somewhere above 14,000 to 17,000 Hz. That is your hearing, not the speaker.