Sound Through Speakers while Headphones in?

[Reaga]

So I use my headphones to listen to music at work. I unplugged them to show my wife a video, but when I plugged them back in sound was coming through the speakers. The device recognizes that my headphones are in but does not seem to care. The only app open between was Youtube.

 

[Hadron]

Was this a one-off, or does it do this consistently?

 

[Reaga]

The headphones have not worked since then (meaning the phone has not even attempted to run the sound through headphones).

I will remark that since this started, the phone has taken several seconds to recognize them after they are plugged in

 

[Hadron]

Hmm, funny that it recognises that they are plugged in but doesn't use them.

I suppose you've tried the obvious: rebooting the phone, looking to see whether there's any dirt or fluff in the headphone socket (be careful trying to remove any though - easy to damage things), or just trying a different pair of headphones (in case there's an internal break in the headphone lead)?

 

[Reaga]

I tried rebooting, I haven't tried a different pair or cleaning it yet though. Not sure how to clean the jack.

 

[Hadron]

I'd shine a light in and see whether you can see anything in there. If you can a soft brush or an air blower would be my suggestion.

 

[Reaga]

It's not the headphones. I plugged them into my PSP and they worked fine. Haven't had an opportunity to check the jack

 

[Reaga]

Ok, so the headphones work when plugged into other devices, and other headphones work when plugged into my phone, but they no longer work together. I could solve the problem with a new set, but I still want to know how this happened.

 

[svim]

Ok, so the headphones work when plugged into other devices, and other headphones work when plugged into my phone, but they no longer work together. I could solve the problem with a new set, but I still want to know how this happened.

As you've isolated the problem to be specifically between your phone and those headphones, the only thing I can think of at this point is if there's some kind of build-up right up at the base of the headphone's plug end (see jpg)

A headphone jack is essentially just a mechanical, spring loaded switch, with metal contacts that must aligned exactly with the metal contacts on the headphone plug, enabling the audio signal to go to either the internal phone speaker or the headphone. If there's something like an old bit of tape or something right where the plastic and metal meet, it might be just thick enough that it's preventing the plug from being fully inserted into the jack (which will prevent the jack's spring loaded switch from being pushed outward). Kind of a long shot, considering those headphones do work elsewhere but as almost everything in a smartphone is miniaturized that often applies to tolerances too.

 

[Reaga]

As you've isolated the problem to be specifically between your phone and those headphones, the only thing I can think of at this point is if there's some kind of build-up right up at the base of the headphone's plug end (see jpg)
View attachment 122381
A headphone jack is essentially just a mechanical, spring loaded switch, with metal contacts that must aligned exactly with the metal contacts on the headphone plug, enabling the audio signal to go to either the internal phone speaker or the headphone. If there's something like an old bit of tape or something right where the plastic and metal meet, it might be just thick enough that it's preventing the plug from being fully inserted into the jack (which will prevent the jack's spring loaded switch from being pushed outward). Kind of a long shot, considering those headphones do work elsewhere but as almost everything in a smartphone is miniaturized that often applies to tolerances too.

Does that explain why the phone recognizes the headphones as plugged in?

 

[svim]

To be honest I really can't say, but when you push your headphone plug end into your phone's headphone jack, it really is just a mechanical switch inside. The plug end pushes aside a spring-loaded piece of metal, switching contacts so the audio out changes from the speaker to the headphone/earbud. In addition the metal contacts that make up the shaft of the plug end, in this instance ground, left channel, and right channel separated by plastic insulators, also have to line up with their corresponding ground, left channel, and right channel contacts inside the jack. If the the plug isn't fully inserted, the switch may or may not be moved, and the matching metal contacts might not be aligned properly. Depending on how misaligned they are (which correlates with how deeply the plug end is inserted), there might be only one channel going to the proper output. And really this is way more verbage than necessary, just take a look at the plug to see if it's clean and make sure it's fully inserted.

 

[Reaga]

I can't see anything on the outer rim of either the jack or the shaft getting in the way. Both are clear.

It was working the second before I took the headphones out to show my wife the video (which was about 2 minutes long) and stopped working sometime in that time frame as I plugged the headphones back in to watch something else.

 

[svim]

So is this sound issue just happening when using the Youtube app? As you've stated you've tried using those headphone elsewhere and they work OK, and you tried a different headphone in your phone and it worked OK so does this issue happen using just that one set of headphones and the problem remains using different apps?

 

[Reaga]

Both Youtube and the Music app are coming out of the speaker despite the headphones being recognized by the phone (I have a notification on my phone that won't disappear until they are unplugged). Games are also doing this.

Phone calls also do that, so it's not just the Media volume.

 

[svim]

Very puzzling. perhaps this is some glitch with your phone's audio at an operating system level. Try rebooting your phone into its Recovery Mode and wiping the system cache partition. The cache partition is different than the app caches, and to clear it your phone needs to be running in its Recovery Mode. Also, the system cache has its own dedicated partition that's completely separate from the user data partition so this won't affect your personal data at all.

 

[Reaga]

Very puzzling. perhaps this is some glitch with your phone's audio at an operating system level. Try rebooting your phone into its Recovery Mode and wiping the system cache partition. The cache partition is different than the app caches, and to clear it your phone needs to be running in its Recovery Mode. Also, the system cache has its own dedicated partition that's completely separate from the user data partition so this won't affect your personal data at all.

I will try, I'm just not sure why this would stop my headphones but the alternate pair I tried work just fine.

That's the real puzzling part: My headphones work on other devices. Other headphones work on my phone. But there's something wrong between specifically the combination of my headphones and my phone.

 

[Courtney Hobbs]

So I use my headphones to listen to music at work. I unplugged them to show my wife a video, but when I plugged them back in sound was coming through the speakers. The device recognizes that my headphones are in but does not seem to care. The only app open between was Youtube.

this happened to me before! it turned out that the node right on the very end of my headphones was still inside the headphone socket! it registered the headphones as being plugged in but the sound was still coming out of the speakers, with a very steady hand and some tweezers and about 2 hours of concentrating i mnaged to get it out!!!

 

[Reaga]

Did your headphones still work in other devices? And did other headphones still work? That sounds like it would prevent both of those things that I am experiencing.

 

[Courtney Hobbs]

Did your headphones still work in other devices? And did other headphones still work? That sounds like it would prevent both of those things that I am experiencing.

no it didnt work in other devices unfortunatly, because the connection was lost completley between the end of the head phones and the inside of the head phone adaptor undreneath my phone, if that isnt the case it may well be a loose wire or a broken connection within th phone if it has been damaged some how

 

[Reaga]

no it didnt work in other devices unfortunatly, because the connection was lost completley between the end of the head phones and the inside of the head phone adaptor undreneath my phone, if that isnt the case it may well be a loose wire or a broken connection within th phone if it has been damaged some how

I'm just not so sure it can be any one device that's the issue here. PSP, fine. Laptop, fine. The headphones work in anything but my phone. And I borrowed a set from the computers at work to test, and they worked fine on my phone.

I'm trying to think of what could be the issue between the specific combination of my phone and headphones that would prevent them from working together but allow them to work in other pairs.

 

[Courtney Hobbs]

some times the jack socket, the actual metal it yu put inside your hone could be either to long or to short, so it could only be out by a fraction and ouldnt make the connection, this has happened to me previously asell where i had to pull it out a tiny bt just so the connection could be made between the two because every headphone jack is completley different to the next with width and depth alike.

 

[Reaga]

So you're suggesting I pull the male headphone jack out a bit, or that it might have gotten pushed in?

 

[Courtney Hobbs]

So you're suggesting I pull the male headphone jack out a bit, or that it might have gotten pushed in?

you can try that that is the only other verifyable explanation i can give at this time im afraid other than that im totally stumped! i used to have to twist them and pull them in funny directions and then wedge them in place before it even decided to play anything

 

[david nist]

Apologize for not having the time today to read through the whole thread, I'll try when I get home from work.

If it's not a physical issue, (which I suspect it is, based on your description), again, sorry if it's already been covered, but do your headphones have three black stripes on the plug or two?

There's a difference

I have the same issue when I try and use my son's iPhone set with the three stripes, but have no issues when there's only the two stripes. I won't get into the technical detail, but here are a couple of great references to help.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-d...headphone-and-three-stripe-earphone-headphone

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-3-5-mm-jack-in-mobiles-and-laptops