Mic test

What this mic test checks

Press start and allow your microphone. The meter and the level history move as you speak, and the line at the top tells you whether the level is healthy, too quiet or clipping. Record five seconds and play it back, measure your room’s background noise, and see the sample rate and channel count your browser reports. This microphone tester runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and the mic turns off when you press Stop or leave.

How to read your microphone test

• Level and peak, in dBFS. 0 dBFS is the loudest a digital signal can go, so every reading is below zero. Talking at your normal volume, peaks between about −24 and −6 dBFS are healthy, and around −12 is a comfortable target. Below −24, people have to turn you up, and your room comes up with you. Above −3, loud words start to clip.
• Clip. The lamp lights when the signal hits full scale. Clipping is distortion that no app can remove later, so turn the input gain down until it stays dark.
• Room noise. Stay quiet for three seconds and we take the typical level of what’s left. As a rough guide, below −60 dBFS is a quiet room, −60 to −45 means a fan or computer is audible, and above −45 is noisy. Turning the gain up raises the room as well as your voice, so the gap between the two matters more than either number.
• Sample rate and channels. 48 kHz is the norm for calls and streaming, and 44.1 kHz is fine too. Most USB and headset mics are mono, which is right for one voice. These are what the browser reports, which can be lower than the most the mic can do.

Mic test with playback: hear what others hear

The meter proves there’s a signal. Playback tells you whether it sounds good. Record five seconds at your usual distance and listen on headphones. Muffled usually means you’re too far away or speaking into the wrong side: many USB mics pick up from the side, not the top. Popping on “p” and “b” means you’re too close or straight on, so angle the mic slightly. A hollow, echoey sound comes from bare walls, and a steady hum or hiss often points to a USB hub, a long cable or gain set too high.

Noise suppression, echo cancellation and auto gain are what call apps do to your voice. They start off here, so you hear the mic itself. Record once with them off and once with them on: the background drops, and sometimes your voice turns thin or watery. Zoom, Teams, Discord and Meet each have their own versions in their audio settings.

Mic not working? Check these in order

1. Allow it in the browser. Chrome: click the site controls icon at the left of the address bar and switch Microphone on. Edge: click the lock icon, then Permissions for this site. Firefox: click the crossed-out microphone in the address bar and clear the block. Safari: Safari > Settings for this website. If access is blocked, the tool shows the steps for your browser.
2. Allow it in the system. Windows 11: Settings > Privacy & security > Microphone, and turn on Microphone access, Let apps access your microphone and Let desktop apps access your microphone. macOS: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone, switch your browser on, then quit and reopen it.
3. Pick the right input. Windows: Settings > System > Sound > Input. Mac: System Settings > Sound > Input. With more than one mic connected, choose yours from the list at the top of the tool as well.
4. Check the hardware. Look for a mute button on the headset, cable or mic, and a gain knob turned all the way down. Plug USB mics straight into the computer rather than a hub. A headset with a single 3.5 mm plug needs a combined headset jack or a splitter.
5. Free it from other apps. Close Zoom, Teams, Discord, OBS or other tabs using the mic. On Windows you can also open Control Panel > Sound > Recording > your mic > Properties > Advanced and untick “Allow applications to take exclusive control”.

Works here, but not in Discord, Zoom or OBS?

Each app chooses its own input, separately from the system. In Discord it’s User Settings > Voice & Video > Input Device; in Zoom, Settings > Audio > Microphone; in Teams, Settings > Devices; in OBS, Settings > Audio > Mic/Auxiliary Audio. Pick the same mic you see in the list here.

Bluetooth headsets are a special case. Their mic only works in hands-free mode, and in that mode the headset also drops your audio to call quality, so music sounds flat while the mic is open. That’s a limit of Bluetooth, not a broken mic.

Questions