Clean My Speaker

Call speaker · earpiece · receiver

Calls sound muffled. Everything else is fine.

That's almost always the earpiece speaker, not the main one. It's smaller, it's easy to miss when you're drying a wet phone, and it responds to the same sound-cycle fix.

  • Separate driver from your main loudspeaker
  • Same physics, smaller grille
  • <1min to run a cycle
— Hz 00:00

Hold the earpiece — the small opening near the top of your phone — face-down over a cloth, volume at maximum.

Finding the earpiece speaker

It's the narrow slit above your screen, not the grille on the bottom edge. On most phones it's easy to overlook because it's small and rarely gets attention during a general clean.

  1. 1

    Locate the earpiece

    The thin slit just above the display, used only during calls and voice memos.

  2. 2

    Face it down, volume up

    Rest the top edge of the phone on a soft cloth, media volume at maximum.

  3. 3

    Run the cycle

    Water Ejector or Dust Buster — the same tone that clears the main speaker also clears this one.

  4. 4

    Test with a call

    Play a voice memo or take a short call to confirm it's clear. Repeat once if it's still muffled.

Two speakers, two problems

A phone with a perfectly clear main speaker can still have a muffled earpiece, and vice versa — they're separate drivers behind separate grilles. If it's the bottom speaker that's affected instead, the main speaker cleaner is the right tool.

If calls sound bad on their end, not yours

A blocked earpiece only affects what you hear. If the other person says you sound muffled or distant, the problem is your microphone, not your earpiece — see the mic cleaner & tester instead.

Call speaker questions

Why does my call speaker sound muffled but music plays fine?

Your phone has two separate speakers: the main bottom-firing loudspeaker for media, and the small earpiece near the top for calls. They have separate grilles, so one can collect dust or moisture while the other stays clear.

How do I clean my earpiece speaker?

Hold the earpiece facing down over a soft cloth, volume at maximum, and run Water Ejector or Dust Buster from this page. The grille is smaller than the main speaker but responds to the same principle.

Will this fix a scratchy or crackling call speaker?

It helps when the crackle comes from debris or moisture against the diaphragm. If it persists after two or three cycles, the driver itself may need a hardware repair.

Does the other person hear better once I clean it?

Cleaning the earpiece improves what you hear, since that's the speaker pointed at your ear. If the other person can't hear you, that's your microphone — see the mic cleaner for that.

Muffled call speaker, right now?

Skip back up, pick Water Ejector, and give it 45 seconds.

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