The Xiaomi Mi 8, despite its age, remains a popular device due to its high-quality screen and performance, but the hardware is subject to wear over time. One of the first components to take on the blow of dust, moisture and mechanical stress is the acoustic system. If you notice that the interlocutor is hard to hear, the sound in the speakers has become quieter or wheezing, you need to conduct a detailed diagnosis to understand the scale of the problem.
Audio system testing in MIUI devices can be done both by software methods through hidden engineering menus and by external means, such as test audio files. It is important not to rush to break down until software failures or banal contamination of the speaker grid are ruled out. In this article, we will discuss all the available methods of sound testing, from simple built-in utilities to professional methods of frequency verification.
There are several scenarios that require verification: sudden loss of sound after a fall, a decrease in volume after contact with moisture, or simply routine diagnosis of a used device before buying. Understanding how the Xiaomi Mi 8 audio system works will help you determine exactly which module is out of order – a conversational speaker, a main multimedia speaker or a microphone.
Visual inspection and primary diagnosis
Before we get to the complex software tests, we need to eliminate the physical obstacles to the passage of the sound wave. In the Xiaomi Mi 8, the main speaker is located at the bottom of the body, and the conversational speaker is located at the top of the screen, hidden behind a thin grid. Often the problem lies not in the breakage of the membrane, but in the banal contamination of these holes.
Carefully examine the bottom of the smartphone in good lighting. If you see a dense layer of dust, pile or sticky residue, it can block up to 50% of the volume. To clean, you can use a soft toothbrush or a special gel to clean the equipment, but you can not use sharp objects, as you can damage the membrane of the speaker.
⚠️ Warning: Never try to clean the speaker holes with a needle or pin.You can pierce the safety net and damage the speaker itself, resulting in irreversible distortion of the sound.
It's also worth checking if there's a protective film or a glass with an incorrect cutout that covers the auditory speaker, and even a minimal overlap can significantly reduce the intelligibility of the speaker's speech, and if there's no visual defect, we'll go to software tests.
- 🔍 Inspect the speaker grid for dust and dirt.
- 📱 Make sure that the protective glass does not cover the holes.
- 🔊 Check the physical integrity of the body around the speakers.
- 💧 Eliminate the presence of moisture in the holes (use a flashlight).
After visual inspection, you can do a primary test by turning on any media file at maximum volume. If there is a sound but it is quiet or hoarse, the problem is most likely contamination or wear of the membrane. If there is no sound at all, a deeper diagnosis of iron is required.
Using the CIT Engineering Menu for Testing
The most reliable way to test a smartphone’s components is to use the built-in CIT (Customer Integration Test) menu, a tool Xiaomi engineers created to test the health of all device modules, including the audio system, accessed through a special code in the Phone app.
To enter the diagnostic menu, dial the combination ##6484##. If the code doesn't work, try the alternative ##4636##, although the former is standard for MIUI. Once you enter the code, you'll see a list of all the tests available. You'll be interested in items related to sound: these are usually called "Speaker" (main speaker), "Receiver" (talk speaker) and "Microphone" (microphone).
☑️ Checking in CIT menu
When you select the Speaker test, the device will start playing the melody through the main speaker. At which point you need to evaluate the purity of the sound, the absence of cod and the maximum volume. The Receiver test checks the upper speaker: hold the phone to your ear, as in a normal conversation, and make sure that the sound is clear. The microphone test will ask you to say something, and then play the recording to assess the quality of the sound capture.
If the tests fail to start or give an error in the engineering menu, it is a direct signal of driver problems or a physical disabling of the module. In some cases, resetting helps, but most often it indicates a need for repair.
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If the test in the CIT menu is successful, but there is no sound in the applications (YouTube, WhatsApp), the problem lies in the software conflict or the settings of a particular application, not in the hardware.
Verification through settings and standard MIUI features
Android’s MIUI-enclosed operating system has standard audio checkers that can be useful if access to the engineering menu is blocked for some reason, and it’s worth checking the equalizer and sound effects settings first, as an incorrect configuration can create the illusion of a breakdown.
Go to Settings → Sound and Vibration → Sound Effects. You can see Dolby Atmos settings (if supported by the software version) or the standard graphical equalizer. Try switching sound profiles (Music, Movie, Normal) and see if the sound pattern changes. If the profiles change or disappear, this may indicate that the audio driver is failing.
You should also pay attention to the “Sound Improve” or “Mi Sound Enhancer” function. Turning on and off these options helps you to understand whether the software part responds to changes. Sometimes users accidentally activate the “Vibration Only” or “No Sound” mode, so checking the volume sliders in the Settings → Sound and Vibration menu is a must.
| Type of sound | Where to find out | Normal reaction. | Sign of a problem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multimedia. | YouTube, Gallery | Loud, clear sound. | Wheezing, silence |
| Conversational | Call, recorder. | Clear speech. | Noise, echo, quiet. |
| Systemic | Keystrokes | Short click. | Delay, absence |
| High-profile communication | Speaker on the bell | Sound from the bottom speaker | The sound from the top |
It's important to distinguish which channel of sound is not working, if the headphones have sound and the speaker doesn't, it's a problem with the dynamics, if it's not there, it's a problem with the software or audio codec of the motherboard.
Detailed frequency check and test tracks
For a more professional assessment of the state of the Xiaomi Mi 8 speakers, you can use special test tracks that reproduce sound frequencies in the range from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. The human ear hears this range, but speakers of different sizes reproduce it in different ways: a small conversational speaker can not qualitatively produce low frequencies, and a large multimedia can distort high frequencies.
Find a video on the Internet or YouTube called "Speaker Test" or "Frequency Sweep." Run it at maximum volume. Listen carefully to how the sound changes as the frequency increases. At low frequencies (20-200 Hz), the main speaker should give a tangible vibration and bass. If you hear rattling of the body or the membrane itself, this is a sign of mechanical damage or unstucking of the speaker from the body.
⚠️ Warning: Do not turn on test low frequency signals (bass) at maximum volume for too long.This can lead to overload and final rupture of the speaker membrane if it is already damaged.
High frequency (above 10 kHz) testing will help identify problems with the top speaker and tweeters, and if the sound becomes piercing, whistling, or completely disappears at high frequencies, the high frequency component of the speaker has degraded, which often happens after moisture is injected.
Why is it important to check different frequencies?
Diagnostics of the microphone in Xiaomi Mi 8
The sound problems in the Xiaomi Mi 8 are often not just about playback, but also recording. This smartphone has several microphones: the main (bottom), the secondary (top for noise reduction), and sometimes the third (back or side), each of which requires a different approach.
The easiest way to check the main microphone is to turn on the standard Dictophone app and record your speech. Then listen to the recording. If the sound is quiet, intermittent or with a strong noise, try to close the other microphone holes with your finger and repeat the recording, which will help you to understand which microphone is not working correctly.
To check the top microphone (noise reduction), you can call someone and turn on speakerphone, in which the main microphone often turns off and the top one comes into operation, and if the person stops hearing you when you turn on the speakerphone, but hears in normal mode, then the top microphone is defective or contaminated.
- 🎤 Record your voice through the Dictator app to check the main microphone.
- 📞 Call with the speakerphone on to check the top microphone.
- 🤫 Use noise reduction mode in the call settings to evaluate the second microphone.
- 🧹 Carefully clean the microphone holes with a soft brush.
The CIT engineering menu also has a "Mic" test that lets you check all the microphones in turn. The system will ask you to talk, and the indicator on the screen will respond to the level of the incoming signal. If the indicator does not move, the microphone does not receive power or is damaged.
Typical malfunctions and their software solution
Not always the absence of sound means a physical breakdown: Android and MIUI have software bugs that block the audio stream, for example, after the system update, the sound profile may “fly” or the conflicting application may capture the audio channel.
The first step should be to remove newly installed applications, especially those that have access to a microphone or control sound (equalizers, bass boost amplifiers).It is also worth trying to reset the audio settings to factory if this option is available in your firmware version, or simply restart the device in safe mode.
To enter Safe Mode, press the off button and then (hold) the off button on the screen until you are prompted to go to Safe Mode. If sound appears in this mode, then the problem is in the third-party application.
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If the sound appears in safe mode, but disappears in normal mode, it is the fault of the third-party application.
In rare cases, flashing the device or resetting to factory settings (Hard Reset) helps. However, before you do this, make sure to back up the data, since all files will be deleted. If after a complete reset and a clean installation of the firmware, the sound does not appear, the probability of hardware failure is 99%.