Reviewed 19 September 2026Quick answer: lower the device volume, choose a frequency range and duration, keep headphones off your ears for the first run, then play one sweep. Use the live requested-frequency readout to note where a repeatable change occurs. This is a listening reference, not a hearing test or calibrated frequency-response measurement.
Browser frequency sweepConfigure a sine sweep
Choose the start, end, duration and curve. Playback stops automatically at the selected duration.
Ready: 20 to 20,000 hertz in 10 seconds.
20 Hz
Lower the device volume first and keep headphones off your ears for the first sweep. Stop for discomfort, pain, ringing, harshness or mechanical knocking.
What the frequency sweep does
The tool asks the browser's Web Audio API to move a sine oscillator continuously between two selected frequencies. A logarithmic sweep spends equal time across equal frequency ratios, while a linear sweep changes by an equal number of hertz per unit of time. Both use the same low application-level gain and stop at the chosen duration.
The live number is the frequency requested from the browser oscillator. It is not a measurement of what the speaker, headphones, amplifier or room reproduced.
How to run a useful sweep
- Select the intended audio output and lower its system or hardware volume.
- Start with a relevant preset. Use Bass for a subwoofer or Full range for a broad comparison.
- Leave the curve on logarithmic for an even journey across octaves. Use linear only when equal hertz-per-second movement is the task.
- Play once and note a repeatable rattle, abrupt change or missing region. Stop immediately for discomfort or heavy distortion.
- Reverse the direction and repeat once at the same volume. Narrow a suspicious region with the exact tone generator.
How to interpret what you hear
Loudness changes across the sweep
This is expected in an uncontrolled listening test. Equipment response, processing, room acoustics, fit and individual hearing all affect perceived loudness.
A rattle repeats near one region
Lower the volume, reverse the sweep and check for loose objects or surfaces. Use a short exact tone to confirm whether the sound repeats, without assuming the driver is damaged.
The lowest or highest part is absent
Do not raise the volume to force a result. The output device, amplifier, processing and listener can each limit an extreme; this page cannot identify which factor is responsible.
The sweep plays through the wrong device
Stop and select the intended system output. For channel routing and Bluetooth setup, use the speaker and sound test.
Choose the right related tool
Use the bass and subwoofer test for fixed 20–120 Hz references and its short guided bass sweep. Use the tone generator when you need one exact frequency or a non-sine waveform. Use this page when the task is continuous movement between two chosen frequencies.