Problem with music/audio only playing through one speaker/ear

[spawndoodling]

I have actually spent much of the past hour searching on Google and the forums for a solution to this issue, and I've mostly come up with dead threads where there didn't seem to be any resolution or things I had already tried or things that were unable to remedy this problem.

I have had a GS3 since late-November; it is running 4.2.2 on Sprint and all of a sudden, in the past day, I have encountered a problem with audio. Whenever I plug in either earphones or an auxiliary cord to listen to music in my car/on a speaker, music is only playing on the right speaker/earbud. I regularly use Google Play Music (the most recent update), the stock Samsung Music app, YouTube, etc. - all of which I have tried to use today and still encountered the same problem. I see that this is a problem that many have encountered, based on my Google searches, but I actually have not had this problem up until now.

I have tried three standard auxiliary jacks and one earbud, all of which I have used before with no problem. I used a Griffin auxiliary cord that I use to connect to an FM transmitter in my car, I used a regular generic auxiliary cord attached to my Memorex speakers, my cheap JVC earbuds, and I used a light green basic auxiliary cord attached to my larger 20-year old Altec speakers. All of these are standard 3.5mm cords - I do not know what other dimensions the cords are, but since they have worked before, I did not find that to be important. Again, I regularly use my GS3's headphone port with all four of these things - in fact, I did so just yesterday - and I have never encountered this problem until now.

There are a few things that I have tried to no avail, based on recommendations from this forum and others: blowing into the headphone port to see if there was any excess dust that fell into the port; taking off my Otterbox and ensuring that both sides of the auxiliary cord/the earphone plug were snugly fit; pulling either side of the cord out a little bit; and, of course, looking through all of my settings - Sound Balance, Mono Audio, Sound on the phone itself, the settings on each of the respective applications I use - to make sure that nothing impeded audio coming out of both sides.

I would greatly appreciate your help/advice and I do apologize in advance if this problem has been solved recently. I've been looking for a while and have found no dice. This is the first issue I've had with this phone - truly love the GS3 and Sprint, so hopefully I will be able to resolve it soon!

 

[B. Diddy]

Maybe try swabbing the contacts inside the jack with a Q-tip dabbed in rubbing alcohol?

 

[Golfdriver97]

I have actually spent much of the past hour searching on Google and the forums for a solution to this issue, and I've mostly come up with dead threads where there didn't seem to be any resolution or things I had already tried or things that were unable to remedy this problem.

I have had a GS3 since late-November; it is running 4.2.2 on Sprint and all of a sudden, in the past day, I have encountered a problem with audio. Whenever I plug in either earphones or an auxiliary cord to listen to music in my car/on a speaker, music is only playing on the right speaker/earbud. I regularly use Google Play Music (the most recent update), the stock Samsung Music app, YouTube, etc. - all of which I have tried to use today and still encountered the same problem. I see that this is a problem that many have encountered, based on my Google searches, but I actually have not had this problem up until now.

I have tried three standard auxiliary jacks and one earbud, all of which I have used before with no problem. I used a Griffin auxiliary cord that I use to connect to an FM transmitter in my car, I used a regular generic auxiliary cord attached to my Memorex speakers, my cheap JVC earbuds, and I used a light green basic auxiliary cord attached to my larger 20-year old Altec speakers. All of these are standard 3.5mm cords - I do not know what other dimensions the cords are, but since they have worked before, I did not find that to be important. Again, I regularly use my GS3's headphone port with all four of these things - in fact, I did so just yesterday - and I have never encountered this problem until now.

There are a few things that I have tried to no avail, based on recommendations from this forum and others: blowing into the headphone port to see if there was any excess dust that fell into the port; taking off my Otterbox and ensuring that both sides of the auxiliary cord/the earphone plug were snugly fit; pulling either side of the cord out a little bit; and, of course, looking through all of my settings - Sound Balance, Mono Audio, Sound on the phone itself, the settings on each of the respective applications I use - to make sure that nothing impeded audio coming out of both sides.

I would greatly appreciate your help/advice and I do apologize in advance if this problem has been solved recently. I've been looking for a while and have found no dice. This is the first issue I've had with this phone - truly love the GS3 and Sprint, so hopefully I will be able to resolve it soon!

B. Diddy may be on the right track. You might be better off with a toothpick and a wad of paper towel and alcohol. I would test fit a tooth pick first.
It may also be a bug in your custom ROM, too.

 

[B. Diddy]

Would you be afraid of accidentally lodging the wad inside the jack?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Would you be afraid of accidentally lodging the wad inside the jack?

Not if the wad followed the length of the toothpick. Qtip was a good idea, but the wad of cotton is pretty big. Although, a better idea would be to twist a large wad of paper towel, and inserting the twist into the jack. Then, there is no accidental lodging, nothing to get stuck or break off.

 

[spawndoodling]

Thanks everyone for your input. Just to help anyone else who may be experiencing this issue, I was not able to remedy the problem and ended up taking my GS3 in for premium handset replacement (thank god for insurance!). They even tried to no success to see if there was any excess air in the device.
I feel like the dust issue may be the root of the problem for some but it wasn't for me. Upon taking apart the device, there was no evidence of dust. To me, it feels like this is a defect with some devices or more so a matter of poor design. I feel like jamming and damaging the headphone jack is much easier when the jack is on an incline or curve.

Oh well - I love the GS3 so hopefully things will be smooth sailing from here on out.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 on Sprint

 

[fairville]

I'm having the exact same problem. Pandora, iheartradio, built-in music player... All playing out of the right ear only. However when I play a video using VPlayer and I get sound out of both ears. ????? Makes NO sense to me. Any ideas?

I'm on an AT&T GS3 SGH-i747 rooted running 4.2.2

 

[fairville]

So I havent found the root of the problem, but I've discovered a workaround. With the headphones unplugged, change the volume. Either up or down, doesn't matter. Then while you see the volume bar on the screen, quickly plug in the ear buds. Magically it works now. Its got to be an OS related issue and not a hardware issue. Hope this helps!

 

[thirdrock09]

Thank you. Cleaning the jack with a wet wipe and a toothpick worked for me.

 

[Jennes Obiso]

what should i do my speaker is not working

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what should i do my speaker is not working

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what should i do my speaker is not working

 

[BLOODFYEND]

I have actually spent much of the past hour searching on Google and the forums for a solution to this issue, and I've mostly come up with dead threads where there didn't seem to be any resolution or things I had already tried or things that were unable to remedy this problem.

I have had a GS3 since late-November; it is running 4.2.2 on Sprint and all of a sudden, in the past day, I have encountered a problem with audio. Whenever I plug in either earphones or an auxiliary cord to listen to music in my car/on a speaker, music is only playing on the right speaker/earbud. I regularly use Google Play Music (the most recent update), the stock Samsung Music app, YouTube, etc. - all of which I have tried to use today and still encountered the same problem. I see that this is a problem that many have encountered, based on my Google searches, but I actually have not had this problem up until now.

I have tried three standard auxiliary jacks and one earbud, all of which I have used before with no problem. I used a Griffin auxiliary cord that I use to connect to an FM transmitter in my car, I used a regular generic auxiliary cord attached to my Memorex speakers, my cheap JVC earbuds, and I used a light green basic auxiliary cord attached to my larger 20-year old Altec speakers. All of these are standard 3.5mm cords - I do not know what other dimensions the cords are, but since they have worked before, I did not find that to be important. Again, I regularly use my GS3's headphone port with all four of these things - in fact, I did so just yesterday - and I have never encountered this problem until now.

There are a few things that I have tried to no avail, based on recommendations from this forum and others: blowing into the headphone port to see if there was any excess dust that fell into the port; taking off my Otterbox and ensuring that both sides of the auxiliary cord/the earphone plug were snugly fit; pulling either side of the cord out a little bit; and, of course, looking through all of my settings - Sound Balance, Mono Audio, Sound on the phone itself, the settings on each of the respective applications I use - to make sure that nothing impeded audio coming out of both sides.

I would greatly appreciate your help/advice and I do apologize in advance if this problem has been solved recently. I've been looking for a while and have found no dice. This is the first issue I've had with this phone - truly love the GS3 and Sprint, so hopefully I will be able to resolve it soon!

Try auxiliary to audio cord only with no video capabilities maby?

 

[Marc Stanojevic]

Hi guys. I have G Note 4 and when i plug usb speakers from logitech () via otg cable i get sound only from left speaker.
My friend tryed with xperia Z3 mini and both speakers worked instantly.
Has someone detect the same or similiar probrem and founded a solution.
Thank you for answer and sory for bad english...
Marc

 

[haxasaurus]

So I havent found the root of the problem, but I've discovered a workaround. With the headphones unplugged, change the volume. Either up or down, doesn't matter. Then while you see the volume bar on the screen, quickly plug in the ear buds. Magically it works now. Its got to be an OS related issue and not a hardware issue. Hope this helps!

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I had the same issue with my moto x with Sony headphones with an inline mic and this worked for me! You are a saint. Just a couple of more weeks until i can replace my phone and hopefully I won't have to deal with it anymore! Thanks again!