NAME

       speaker-test - command-line speaker test tone generator for ALSA

SYNOPSIS

       speaker-test [-options]

DESCRIPTION

       speaker-test generates a tone that can be used to test the speakers of a computer.

       speaker-test  by  default will test the default device. If you want to test another sound device you will
       have first to get a list of all of the sound cards in your system and the devices associated  with  those
       cards. Notice that there might be for example, one device for analog sound, one for digital sound and one
       for HDMI sound.  To get the list of available cards and devices you can run aplay -L.

       $ aplay -L
       null
           Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
       default:CARD=ICH5
           Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
           Default Audio Device
       front:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
           Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
           Front speakers
       surround40:CARD=ICH5,DEV=0
           Intel ICH5, Intel ICH5
           4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
       (...)

       in the above example, there are four devices listed: null, default, front and surround40. So, if you want
       to test the last device you can run speaker-test -Dsurround40:ICH5 -c 6. The -c option will indicate that
       the six audio channels in the device have to be tested.

OPTIONS

       -c | --channels NUM
              NUM channels in stream

       -D | --device NAME
              PCM device name NAME

       -f | --frequency FREQ
              sine wave of FREQ Hz

       --help Print usage help

       -b | --buffer TIME
              Use  buffer size of TIME microseconds.  When 0 is given, use the maximal buffer size.  The default
              value is 0.

       -p | --period TIME
              Use period size of TIME microseconds.  When 0 is given, the periods given by -P  option  is  used.
              The default value is 0.

       -P | --nperiods PERIODS
              Use number of periods.  The default value is 4.

       -r | --rate RATE
              stream of RATE Hz

       -t | --test pink|st2095|sine|wav
              -t pink means use pink noise (default).

              Pink  noise  is perceptually uniform noise -- that is, it sounds like every frequency at once.  If
              you can hear any tone it may indicate resonances in your speaker system or room.

              -t st2095 means use bandlimited pink noise  at  -18.5dB  AES  FS,  generated  according  to  SMPTE
              ST-2095:1-2015.   In  addition  to speaker localization it may be used for system calibration, for
              example 85dB for thater drivers, with an extra +10dB for subwoofers.  Per the spec, it is intended
              "to be used in calibrating the sound pressure level and electroacoustic response of  a  cinema  B-
              chain system."  Note that sampling rates less than 48KHz are outside the scope of the spec, and an
              attempt will be made to construct a reduced rate filter.

              -t sine means to use sine wave.

              -t wav means to play WAV files, either pre-defined files or given via -w option.

              You can pass the number from 1 to 3 as a backward compatibility.

       -l | --nloops COUNT

              Specifies the number of loops.  Zero means to run infinitely.

              When -s option below with a valid channel is given, speaker-test will perform always a single-shot
              without looping.

       -s | --speaker CHANNEL
              Do  a  single-shot  speaker  test  for  the given channel.  The channel number starts from 1.  The
              channel number corresponds to left, right, rear-left, rear-right, center,  LFE,  side-left,  side-
              right, and so on.

              For  example, when 1 is passed, it tests the left channel only once rather than both channels with
              looping.

       -w | --wavfile FILE
              Use the given WAV file for the playback instead of pre-defined WAV files.

       -W | --wavdir DIRECTORY
              Specify  the   directory   containing   WAV   files   for   playback.    The   default   path   is
              /usr/share/sounds/alsa.

       -m | --chmap MAP
              Pass  the  channel  map  to  override.   If  the  playback  in a specific channel order or channel
              positions is required, pass the channel position strings to this option.

       -X | --force-frequency
              Allow supplied FREQ to be outside the default range of  30-8000Hz.  A  minimum  of  1Hz  is  still
              enforced.

USAGE EXAMPLES

       Produce stereo sound from one stereo jack:
         speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2

       Produce 4 speaker sound from two stereo jacks:
         speaker-test -Dplug:surround40 -c4

       Produce 5.1 speaker sound from three stereo jacks:
         speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6

       To send a nice low 75Hz tone to the Woofer and then exit without touching any other speakers:
         speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6 -s1 -f75

       To do a 2-speaker test using the spdif (coax or optical) output:
         speaker-test -Dplug:spdif -c2

       Play in the order of front-right and front-left from the front PCM
         speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -mFR,FL

SEE ALSO

       aplay(1)

AUTHOR

       The  speaker-test  program  was written by James Courtier-Dutton.  Pink noise support was added by Nathan
       Hurst.  Further extensions by Takashi Iwai.  SMPTE ST-2095:1 band-limited pink noise added by Rick Sayre.

speaker-test                                     April 2nd, 2011                                 SPEAKER-TEST(1)