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

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

       -m | --chmap
              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.

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.