One of the major benefits of wearing earbuds or over-ear headphones when playing games is greater spatial awareness, which is afforded by having the right and left audio channels funneled directly into your right and left ears. When these feeds are inexplicably switched, however, game sound can quickly become a jumbled and confusing mess. Even worse, if you’re playing online, it could quite easily get you killed when you turn the wrong way based on the direction of footsteps and inadvertently show the enemy your back. This bizarre PS4 audio reversed glitch has been happening for years according to reports online, but solutions have been less forthcoming in that timeframe. Until now, that is.
How to fix reversed PS4 headphone audio
PS4 users have encountered the reverse audio glitch when using a variety of headset brands and while utilizing a number of different connection methods. This makes nailing the exact source of the problem down tricky, which is perhaps why it hasn’t yet been patched by PlayStation 4 manufacturer Sony.
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We’ve seen reports of the problem striking with headphones connected to the television via 3.5 mm audio cable, to the PS4 directly via USB, and via 3.5 mm to an optical audio interface. In all cases, the offending headphones work flawlessly when not outputting audio from the PS4 system; Sony’s popular console is definitely to blame here.
In any of these instances, thankfully, there are a few options available to you:
- Turn your headphones around or swap your earbuds to the other ear
- This isn’t ideal and could be uncomfortable, but if you’re in the middle of something important it’s a temporary fix
- Connect your headphones to the DualShock 4 controller via the 3.5mm audio jack
- Perform a hard system reset by pressing and holding the PS4 power button
- You may need to perform multiple resets, but this method should ensure that you don’t need to change your audio setup
After doing the above, you should have fixed your topsy-turvy sound issues.
