Mic Test

This online mic test checks your microphone inside your browser and tells you, in plain words, what is wrong with it. Speak for a few seconds and it measures your speaking level, peaks and clipping, the background noise in your pauses, mains hum and the sample rate your mic delivers. You can record 5 seconds and play it back, hear yourself live through headphones, and switch on the same echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain that calls apps use. It works with USB, headset, laptop, webcam and Bluetooth mics on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux, and on iPhone and Android phones.

How to test your mic

1. Press Start test and choose Allow when your browser asks to use the microphone.
2. Pick your mic in the Input box. The arrow keys step through every input your system lists, and the page remembers your choice for next time.
3. Talk at your normal volume and distance for about five seconds, then stay quiet for two. The pauses let the tester measure the room.
4. Read the line under the waveform. It names the biggest problem, and the notes under the readouts give the fix for each one.
5. Press Record 5 s, talk, then press play to hear what other people hear. Use headphones for playback if your speakers are close to the mic.
6. Turn on the three processing switches to hear what Zoom, Teams or Discord do to your voice. The test restarts with the new settings each time.
7. Press Copy results to paste a summary into a support ticket or a forum post.

What the results mean

The needle moves like a classic VU meter, showing your average level over about a third of a second. The lights react faster and the orange light holds the latest peak.

The needle does not move

When No sound is reaching the browser appears, the mic is sending pure digital silence. That is what a mute switch, a mute key, an input volume of 0 or a privacy block produces, so check these in order:

• The wrong input. Laptops, webcams and headsets each add a mic. Step through them with the arrows until the needle moves when you talk.
• A mute switch. Look for a button on a USB mic, a slider on a headset cable, a flip-up boom that mutes when raised, or a key with a crossed-out mic on a laptop keyboard.
• Windows privacy settings. Open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Microphone. Turn on Microphone access, Let apps access your microphone and Let desktop apps access your microphone. On Windows 10 the matching switches are under Settings, then Privacy, then Microphone.
• Mac privacy settings. Open System Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Microphone, and turn on your browser. Restart the browser afterwards.
• Input volume at 0. On Windows 11 open Settings, then System, then Sound, select your mic and raise Input volume. On a Mac open System Settings, then Sound, then Input.
• Another app holding the mic. Close Zoom, Teams, Discord, OBS and other tabs that use it. In the Sound control panel, open Recording, then your mic, Properties, Advanced, and untick Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.

Windows 11 has its own Start test button in the mic's properties under Settings, then System, then Sound. Current versions record a short sample for you to play back, and older ones show the result as a share of the total volume. A silent sample or a result of 0 means Windows got nothing from the mic, for the same reasons as above. If none of this helps, the microphone not working guide covers drivers and hardware.

Your mic is too quiet

A speaking level under -42 dB is too quiet for calls, and anything under -32 dB makes people turn you up. Fix it in this order:

1. Get closer. Halving the distance adds about 6 dB of voice and no extra noise. A hand width, 10 to 15 cm, suits most desk mics.
2. Talk into the right side. The Yeti and many other USB mics pick up from the front face, not the top. A headset boom should sit just beside the corner of your mouth.
3. Raise the input volume. Use the slider in your sound settings or the gain knob on the mic. On Windows, the Levels tab of the mic's properties in the Sound control panel may also offer Microphone Boost of +10 to +30 dB.
4. Try Automatic gain. Turn the switch on here. If your level jumps, your calls apps will sound fine, but recording apps without automatic gain will still be quiet.

Your voice clips or crackles

When peaks reach 0 dB the tops of your words are cut flat, which sounds like crackle or a broken speaker. Clipping cannot be removed afterwards. Turn the input volume or gain down until loud words peak around -6 dB, switch off Microphone Boost, and sit a little further back. Laughs and shouts are usually 10 dB louder than normal speech, so leave room for them.

Background noise and mains hum

Background noise above -50 dB comes from fans, air conditioning, a computer next to the mic or a busy room. Move the mic away from the computer, point it away from the noise, and turn on Noise suppression to hear how much a calls app removes. A dynamic mic or a headset mic hears much less of the room than a condenser mic on the desk.

Mains hum is a low, steady buzz at the mains frequency: 50 Hz in most of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, and 60 Hz in North America and parts of South America and Asia. The tester listens for it in your pauses and names the frequency. It usually comes from a ground loop, often a laptop on its charger with a mic in the 3.5 mm socket. Unplug the charger for a moment: if the hum stops, plug the laptop and any speakers or amplifier into the same power strip. Keep mic cables away from power bricks, or use a USB mic.

People hear an echo of themselves

If people in your calls hear their own voice a moment later, your speakers are playing them into your mic. Wear headphones, turn the speaker volume down, and leave echo cancellation on in your calls app. You can check it here: turn on Echo cancellation, play some sound through your speakers and watch how much of it reaches the meter.

The test hears you but nobody in calls does

When this page works, the mic, the drivers and your system's privacy settings are fine, so the problem is inside the app:

• The app uses another input. Pick the same mic in the app's audio settings. Most apps also have a mic test of their own.
• Muted in the app. Look for a crossed-out mic icon, or a Push to talk key you are not pressing.
• Voice activity set too high. The app only sends sound above a threshold. The discord mic test shows where that threshold cuts your voice.
• Bluetooth. The app switched your headset to its hands-free mic, which sounds like an old phone line.

If the app is Discord, the discord mic not working guide goes through its voice settings one by one. For meeting apps, try the zoom mic check or the teams mic test before your next call.

Test your mic on an iPhone or Android phone

On an iPhone, Safari asks for the microphone the first time. If you blocked it, open Settings, then Apps, then Safari, then Microphone, and choose Ask or Allow. On iOS 17 and earlier, Safari is in the main Settings list. An iPhone has several mics: this page uses the main one at the bottom. Apple's own check is to record a voice memo while speaking at the bottom of the phone, then record a video with each camera while speaking at the top. Remove the case and any film over the openings if one of them sounds muffled.

On Android, tap the icon at the left of the address bar in Chrome, then Permissions, and allow the microphone. On Android 12 and later, also swipe down twice from the top and check the Microphone access tile. When it is off, every app and website gets silence.

Headset mics and 3.5 mm plugs

A headset plug with three rings carries the mic (TRRS, four contacts). A headphone plug with two rings has no mic contact (TRS, three contacts). Laptops and phones have one combined socket for headset plugs. Desktop PCs often have a green socket for sound and a pink socket for the mic, so a one-plug headset needs a splitter cable, and a two-plug headset needs the opposite adapter for a laptop.

If a box asks which device you plugged in, choose Headset, not Headphones, or the mic stays off. The headset mic test checks both earcups and the mic together, and the headphone jack not working guide covers loose and dirty sockets.

What a browser mic test cannot measure

The levels on this page are relative to the loudest sound your mic can deliver (dBFS). They are not the loudness of your room in dB SPL, which needs a calibrated mic, though the decibel meter gives an estimate. Your browser may resample the sound and does not always report the sample size or latency, and its noise suppression is not the same as the processing in Zoom, Teams or Discord. A frequency response measurement needs a reference mic and a test room, so for a score of your recording's quality use the mic quality test instead.

Mic test questions