Headphones Plugged In Sound Coming From Speakers

There are moments where we love listening to music on full blast, usually at some parties or maybe when we are home alone!

But mostly, when we go outside, we love music to be our companion. That’s where headphones become very useful! Sometimes, even when we are home, and we feel a little sentimental, we love to get emotional with our music while the headphones are on.

Imagine a beautiful, relaxing day in your room and you are just jamming along with your favorite playlist. The headphones that you got are so good! Makes you feel like you are at a live concert when you have them on.

Your parents call you to come down and give them a hand with some house chores. You unplug your lovely headphones and help them because of the good person you are.

When you come back to your room, you get your headphone jack inside your PC and continue to enjoy the music.

And suddenly something happened. The playing sound is now coming from the laptop speakers. How?

Well, picture how embarrassing would be if that had happened in public! Like when you are randomly riding the bus, or learning at the library! My, oh my!

So, the story doesn’t have to be the same as the above. You don’t have to be a teenager, you could be a parent in their 50’s, listening to some music and the same thing may occur to you too!

But, we are all humans, and those things could happen to anyone!

That’s why you are here! If you have ever experienced something similar, and you are searching for how to fix it, you are in the right place!

Before we explain to you all the ways how you can fix this problem, do some simple check-ups that we are going to show you here.

Restart Your Audio Device

It is world-known that when something doesn’t work, tech-related, you should try to turn it off and then on again. It’s very simple and yet effective, and most of the time, it works.

Everyone does that.

Even if you go to find a tech support person and ask professional staff, they will tell you the same thing.

When you use your PC or smartphone, especially for a longer time, you live in certain caches and logs located in the background process.

They are often the reasons why your RAM memory is full and it’s making the space less usable for other things. Resulting in memory leaks and causing errors and slowdowns on your device.

When you restart your PC, the reboot process will clear your Random Access Memory – RAM. This will give your computer a fresh start plus a clean slate for the device’s system.

Depending on whether you use the phone or PC, you should look up how to properly reboot your device. In the rest of the article, we explain how to do it.

This step is very easy, and it works most of the time. We recommend doing it before we move on to the next step.

Make Sure the Connection is not Weak

Even though your headphones are plugged in, when you play the audio file, the sound is not coming.

It is probably due to loose connections.

This thing can happen over time, especially because the headphone jack tends to get dirt, dust, or even lint after some period of time.

Those things could be the reasons why the jack is blocked and does not reproduce the full sound.

To check that, turn on the flashlight and make sure if the headphones contain any debris.

If so, try to clean it. Use a cotton swab or a soft and dry piece of cloth. Gently wipe out the dirt and make sure not to damage the inner speakers.

After you do all the necessary work to clean them up, plug them in again into your device. Assure that the plugin your headset has a secure connection. Play the song or any audio file to find out if the problem is solved.

Try to Use the Headphones on Another Audio Device

If you tried previous solutions and it still doesn’t work, try to detect where the source of the problem is.

To find out if the underlining problem is with the headphones or your audio device, do this.

Plugin your headphones into some other device. For example, if you use it on your smartphone, try to plug it into your computer.

This way, you can see if the headphones are working. If they do work, the problem is with another device, if not the problem lies in them.

Also, if you own any other set of headphones, you can try them too, just to make sure that the issue is resolved.

What if you’ve done all the things we mentioned above and the external speakers are still playing and there’s no sound on your headphones?

In that case, we provided all the necessary information and possibilities on how to fix the headphone issues

4 Ways on How To Fix Headphones That are Plugged But the Sound is Coming from Speakers

The above resolutions are very simple to do. They are usually very popular among people and have proven to be very effective. But sometimes, even after we’ve done all the things we mentioned, the headphones plugged into your device are still not working the way they should.

Here are 4 methods on how you can deal with this type of issue.

These solutions apply when you use a computer!

1. Adjust your Headphones to the Default Audio Device

If you own a PC with multiple audio output devices, your speakers can still play the audio but in the wrong output, even if your headphones are plugged in.

To avoid this problem, you need to set your headphones to the default audio device.

When you plug in the headset and if the computer isn’t setting it as the default device itself, you have to adjust it manually.

Step by Step on How to Set Default Device Manually

If you have an older Windows version:

1. Find a Sound icon on your PC taskbar in the bottom right corner
2. Make a right-click and choose the Sounds option
3. A new screen will pop up and you should click on the Playback tab
4. From available devices find your headphones
5. Make a right-click and set them to ‘Set as default device’
6. Save your changes by clicking on the OK button and you are good to go

If you own a Windows 10, follow the steps below:

1. Find a Speaker icon on your PC taskbar in the right corner
2. Now, instead of Sounds, choose Open Sound Settings
3. Go to the “Related Settings” option located in the top right corner
4. From the options given, click on the Playback tab
5. Now you have to unplug and plugin your headset again because this will indicate which output is connected to your headphones
6. After the plugin, your computer screen will show the “Ready” window
7. Pick and highlight your device
8. After selection, click on the Set Default option
9. Always save your changes and hit the OK button

2. Update the Sound Card Driver

You are probably wondering what the sound card drivers are responsible for.

Their work is to translate audio information into audible sound between PCs and sound cards. When they are outdated or inoperative, sound card drivers can cause harm to your computer’s sound system.

If you still have problems with the sound even when you set it as the default device, you should try to update your computer’s sound card driver.

Sound drivers should be continuously updated. To do so, you need to go to the manufacturer’s site and get the drivers suitable for your computer’s Windows version.

How to Update Sound Card Driver

1. Make a right-click on the Windows logo and choose the option Device Manager
2. A window will show up and you should find the “Sound, video, and game controllers” button
3. Next to the name, you will see a little arrow, click on it, and the drop-down option will appear
4. From the given list, choose the Realtek High Definition Audio option
5. Make a Right Click and tap on Update Driver
6. A little window will pop up and you should choose the option “Browse My Computer for drivers”
7. Click on “Let me pick from a list of available drivers”
8. Choose the High Definition Audio Device Option
9. The problem should be fixed and you are good to go

3. Update the Audio Driver

The reason for this type of problem is when the user has a faulty audio driver on the PC. The issue can occur when an outdated audio driver is used as well.

In this case, it’s very important to download the latest audio driver and the right one compatible with your PC.

You can do update the audio drivers in two ways

Manually – this is a little complicated process. You would have to go to the manufacturer’s website and follow the steps. Be aware that you will need a lot of skills and patience.

On the right website, find an audio driver corresponding with your Windows version. After downloading it, open the file and follow the given instructions on how to properly install the audio driver.

Automatically – we highly recommend it because it’s way easier, and faster compared to the previous one. To do it, you would have to use a Driver Easy which will automatically find your system and detect the right audio drivers. Choose whether you want to go with a Pro or Free Driver Easy version.

This way, you can avoid all the unpleasant situations and complications that can happen to you when you install it yourself.

4. Startup your Audio Troubleshooter Query

The Audio Troubleshooter is a very helpful thing. It is the built-in tool inside Windows that helps you to automatically locate and find out about audio troubles you are having.

So if none of the above methods helped with your problem, there is a high chance that the Audio Troubleshooter will help you find it.

Instructions on how to run your Audio Troubleshooter

-For older Windows versions

1. Click on the Windows key and X at the same time
2. A new window will appear where you need to choose Control Panel
3. Inside the Control Panel find the Troubleshooting option and click it
4. Choose View all and locate the Playing Audio Troubleshooter
5. Go Next and you will find sequences of different options to resolve your existing problem

-For Windows 10

1. Find Troubleshoot Settings by typing it on the Windows search bar
2. Choose the “Find and fix audio playback problems” button
3. Tap on Next and wait for it until the Troubleshooter scans it. It will find the problem, and automatically try to fix it

The next solutions apply when you use Mac!

1. The Audio Output on Mac

This problem is common for the owners of a few iOS devices. For example, if your Bluetooth speaker or earbuds were paired before with your Mac, it may result in sound coming out of another output device, instead of your headphones.

Follow the guide below to resolve this

1. On the Apple menu find the ‘System Preferences’
2. Locate and tap on the ‘Sound’ button
3. Choose the ‘Output’ tab and from the list given, find your headphones
4. Uncheck the Mute icon
5. The “Show volume bar” box should be checked
6. Drag the volume to your own preference

2. Install Necessary Updates on MacOS

This update method is very important for MacOS and other devices as well.

For the flawless function of the audio output, you need to do the next steps.

1. Open the Apple menu, and choose the Settings
2. Click on the System Preferences and then on the Software Update
3. If your device is not available, the software update will appear
4. Click on the ‘Update Now’ button
5. Wait for the update to finish. Depending on your device, you might need to restart your Mac to complete the process

The next solutions apply when you use a smartphone!

Loose Connections

We already mentioned this in the beginning. The same thing that applies to PCs also applies to smartphones as well.

Lookout if the jack is nicely connected to your smartphone.

If it is, unplug it and look out for possible debris. Clean it carefully as mentioned at the beginning of the article.

Another issue with the sound not coming from your headphones is that you are using third-party brand headphones. Those headsets are usually incompatible with smartphones and will not work on them.

Update Your Smartphone Devices

If we want our technology to work in the proper way, we have to make sure that the devices are up-to-date.

This refers not only to Macs and computers but to smartphones for sure!

How to update my iOS device

1. Your smartphone has to have an Internet connection
2. Plug your device into a phone charger
3. Open Settings and go to General
4. Find a Software Update and tap on Install Now
5. If you don’t have enough storage, a little message will pop out asking you to free it up

How to update my Android device

1. Your smartphone has to have an Internet connection
2. Open Settings and go to System Updates
3. Choose a “Check for system updates” option
4. The phone will do the search for system updates
5. If the update is available, confirm it to initiate the process
6. When the installation process is finished, you might need to restart your phone

FINAL THOUGHTS

Enjoy your music without worrying about the sound coming out. It is really irritating when your audio is being blasted for the not-targeted audience, let alone when it’s a private one.

If you keep having the same problem over and over again, make sure to go through all the stated steps thoroughly.

We hope we nicely explained all the steps and you have successfully fixed them! Now you can enjoy your music freely, listen to private audio or watch some funny videos, without worrying that someone will hear you.

Hope we got you covered! Stay funky.

Related:

Play music through speakers while using headphones