This keyboard sound test listens through your microphone while you type and matches every key press and release to the sound it made. Each key gets a loudness level, the keyboard picture turns into a loudness map, and a list shows your loudest keys, which is where a rattling space bar or a noisy Enter key shows up. Checks compare your long keys with your letters, presses with releases, and each key with itself from press to press. You can play back the last 10 seconds or save them as a WAV file. It works with mechanical, membrane and laptop keyboards and with built in, USB and headset microphones in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. Levels are relative, and the limits section explains why.
How to run a keyboard sound test
- Place the microphone about 30 cm from the keyboard and keep it there. A quiet room gives cleaner numbers.
- Press Start microphone and allow access when the browser asks. The test asks the browser to switch off automatic gain and noise suppression, which would flatten the result.
- Type normally for 20 to 30 seconds. Include Space, Enter, Backspace and both Shift keys, a few times each.
- Read the loudness map, the Loudest keys list and the four checks.
- Press Play last 10 s to hear your typing, or Save WAV to keep it for a before and after comparison.
- Press Copy results for a text summary.
What the results mean
| Readout | What it tells you | Normal result |
|---|---|---|
| Last key | How loud the last press was, in dB above your room's noise | Depends on the microphone and room, so compare keys with each other |
| Average press | The mean of all presses | Use it to compare keyboards in the same spot |
| Loudest key | The key with the highest average | Often Space, a little above the letters |
| Peak level | The loudest keystroke peak, in dBFS | Below -3 dBFS. At 0 the microphone overloads |
| Room noise | The quiet level between keys, in dBFS | Lower is better. The test calls a room noisy above -40 dBFS |
| Loudness map | Each key against the middle of your keyboard | Green and olive keys, a few orange long keys at most |
A difference of 3 dB between two keys is just about audible, and 10 dB sounds roughly twice as loud.
Space bar or Enter is much louder
The stabilizer check compares Space, Enter, Backspace and the Shift keys with your letters. A long key a few dB louder is common, because its bigger keycap moves more air. More than 6 dB louder, or a key that varies a lot from press to press, points to a stabilizer:
- A dry wire. The metal stabilizer wire rattles in its housings. Pull the keycap, apply a thick lubricant or dielectric grease to the wire ends, and refit it.
- A stabilizer not seated. On boards with plate or PCB stabilizers, a housing that has popped out of its clip or screw rattles on every press. Push it back in place.
- A keycap rubbing. A long keycap that touches its neighbour or the case adds a scrape. Check it moves freely.
Play the recording after each change. A fixed stabilizer drops toward the level of the letters.
One key is louder than its neighbours
A single loud key is usually a loose keycap, debris under it or, on a mechanical keyboard, a switch that is wearing out. Reseat the keycap and blow out the switch. If the key also feels scratchy or types twice, test it in the keyboard tester, which flags keys that send two presses. On laptops, a louder key often has a damaged scissor clip and rattles in its socket.
The whole keyboard sounds loud or hollow
The press and release check shows where the noise comes from. When presses are louder, most of it is keys hitting the bottom: O-rings under the keycaps, a desk mat and a lighter touch all help. When releases are louder, the clack comes from the switch stem hitting the top of its housing, common on linear switches, and O-rings do nothing for it; lubricated switches or switches with a dampened top do. A hollow or ringing sound on a mechanical board comes from the empty case, which foam inside the case reduces.
Switch types compared
| Switch type | What you hear | Main source of the noise | Loudness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clicky, often blue | A sharp click on every press, often on release too | A click part inside the switch, plus bottoming out | Loudest |
| Tactile, often brown | A soft bump without a click | Bottoming out and the stem returning to the top | Medium |
| Linear, often red | A smooth press with a clack at the bottom and top | Bottoming out and the upstroke | Medium |
| Silent linear or tactile | A muted thud | Dampers on the stem soften both ends | Quiet |
| Membrane or rubber dome | A soft, muffled press | The dome collapsing and the keycap hitting the case | Quiet to medium |
| Laptop scissor keys | A short, flat tap | The keycap meeting the frame after little travel | Quiet |
| Hall effect and optical | Like the linear, tactile or clicky stem they use | The same as that stem | Medium |
To compare two keyboards fairly, use the same microphone in the same spot, type the same text with the same force, and compare the average press in dB above the room. Save a WAV of each to listen side by side.
Honest limits of phone and laptop microphones
- No calibration. A microphone does not know how sensitive it is, so no browser test can give a true sound level in dB SPL. Levels here are relative to your room and to the microphone's own limit. For a rough room reading, the decibel meter page explains what a phone can and cannot measure.
- Automatic gain and noise suppression. They turn loud keys down and quiet ones up. The test asks for them to be off, and the microphone check tells you if your browser kept them on, which is common on phones.
- Laptop microphones sit in the same case as the keyboard and pick up the keys through the chassis as well as the air, so laptop keys read loud. Compare laptops with each other, not with a desk keyboard.
- Distance. Each time you double the distance, the level drops by about 6 dB in open space, so keep the microphone still between runs.
- Voice tuning. Most microphones are tuned for speech and pick up deep thocks less than high clicks, so the numbers favour clicky sounds.
If the microphone does not start at all, follow the steps under the error message or the guide for a microphone not working. The mic quality test checks the microphone itself, and the frequency analyzer shows which pitches make up your keyboard's sound.
Keyboard sound test questions
How can I test how loud my keyboard is?
Put your microphone about 30 cm from the keyboard, press Start microphone on this page and type normally for half a minute. Every key gets a level in dB above your room's background noise, the loudest keys are listed, and you can play the last 10 seconds back.
Is this a real decibel reading?
It is a real level, but relative. Phone, laptop and headset microphones are not calibrated, so the test gives levels in dB above your room's noise and in dBFS, below the microphone's limit. That is exactly what you need to compare keys and keyboards in the same spot. A true dB(A) figure needs a calibrated sound level meter.
Which keyboard switches are the quietest?
Silent linear and silent tactile switches, which have dampers on the stem, are the quietest mechanical switches. Laptop scissor keys and membrane keyboards are also quiet. Clicky switches are the loudest because they add a click to every press and often to every release.
Why is my space bar so loud?
Long keys sit on a metal stabilizer wire, and a dry or loose wire rattles. If the test shows Space more than 6 dB louder than your letters, lubricate the wire ends where they meet the stabilizer housings, or check that the stabilizer is clipped in properly. A bigger keycap is always a little louder.
Will my keyboard be heard on Discord or Zoom calls?
Possibly, but call apps filter noise, so they are kinder than this test. Record yourself with the mic test with playback while typing to hear what others hear, and turn on the app's noise suppression if the keys come through.
Does the recording leave my computer?
No. The sound is measured inside this tab and the last few seconds are kept in memory only so you can play them back. Nothing is uploaded, and closing the tab or pressing Reset clears it.