Comment 16 for bug 1228689

you need root privilege

sudo hda-Jack-sense-test -a -c1

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/bin/hda-jack-sense-test", line 47, in <module>
     codec = HDACodec(cardindex, codecindex)
   File "/usr/share/snd-hda-tools/hda_codec.py", line 1023, in __init__
     self.fd = os.open("/dev/snd/hwC%sD%s" % (card, device), os.O_RDWR)
 OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/dev/snd/hwC0D0'

http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-tools.git;a=blob;f=hda-verb/README;hb=HEAD

you can also use hda-verb GET_PIN_SENSE to find out whether the pin sense of the pin complex of HP or Mic is used by the headset