Zoom Mic Test

This Zoom mic test tells you how you will sound in a meeting before anyone else hears you. It measures the room with nobody talking, then your voice, so you see both numbers and the gap between them. It plays a sound on your left and right speakers for you to place, and it records 5 seconds of your voice for you to hear back. Every problem it finds comes with the Zoom setting and the system setting that fix it. It works with headsets, USB mics, webcam mics, laptop mics and Bluetooth earbuds on Windows, Mac, Chromebooks, iPhone and Android.

How to run the Zoom mic test

1. Put on the headset or earbuds you will use in Zoom, or sit where you will sit at the laptop.
2. Press Start the check and choose Allow when your browser asks for the microphone.
3. Stay quiet for 3 seconds while the page measures the room.
4. Talk for 5 seconds at your normal meeting voice. The meter should bounce into the green.
5. Press Play sound twice and say where you heard each sound.
6. Record 5 seconds and listen. Turn on Call filters and record again to hear how noise suppression changes your voice.

What the results mean

Decibels here count down from 0 dB, so -20 dB is louder than -40 dB. These are levels inside the computer, not sound pressure in the room. To measure how loud a room really is, use a decibel meter.

Testing your mic in the Zoom app

On Windows and Mac, click your profile picture, then Settings and Audio:

• Choose your microphone, press Test microphone, speak, and listen to the playback. The Input volume bar moves while Zoom hears you.
• Turn on Automatically adjust microphone volume if your voice is quiet, or drag the input volume yourself.
• Under Microphone modes, keep Noise removal and set Background noise suppression to Auto, Low, Medium or High, or choose Original sound for musicians when you play music and want Zoom to leave the sound alone.
• Choose your speaker and press Test speaker to hear a tone.

When Zoom asks how to join audio, Test speaker and microphone plays a ringtone and then replays your voice. During a meeting, the arrow next to Mute switches mic and speaker.

On iPhone and Android, open zoom.us/test in the browser, let it open the Zoom app and join audio with Wifi or Cellular Data. Zoom then tests your speaker and microphone on its own; tap Done when it ends. If Zoom never asked for the mic, turn it on under Settings, Privacy & Security, Microphone on iPhone, or Settings, Apps, Zoom, Permissions on Android.

Zoom does not pick up your mic

Work through these in order:

1. Join audio. If the button at the bottom left of the meeting says Join audio, you are not connected. Click it and choose computer audio.
2. Unmute. A red line through the mic icon means muted. Check the mute switch on the headset cable or boom too.
3. Pick the right mic with the arrow next to Mute.
4. Allow Zoom. On Windows, open Settings, Privacy & security, Microphone and turn on Let desktop apps access your microphone. On a Mac, switch on zoom.us under System Settings, Privacy & Security, Microphone.
5. Close other apps that may hold the mic, such as Teams or a recording app, and restart Zoom.

If this test reports Your mic sends silence, the system gives every app silence, so fix the privacy switch or the hardware mute first. If it stays silent after that, the microphone not working guide takes it from there.

Your voice is too quiet in Zoom

A voice level below -40 dB here means people will strain to hear you. Move closer first: halving the distance to the mic makes you about 6 dB louder. A headset boom should sit 2 to 3 cm from the corner of your mouth. Then raise the input volume in your system: on Windows under Settings, System, Sound, Input, where you select your mic and raise its volume, and on a Mac under System Settings, Sound, Input, Input volume. Turn on Automatically adjust microphone volume in Zoom last, because it raises the room noise with your voice.

Your voice crackles or distorts

A loudest peak at 0 dB means the input is too hot and loud words clip. Lower the input volume a little, and on Windows check Microphone Boost, if your mic has it, under Settings, System, Sound, More sound settings, the Recording tab, your mic, Properties, Levels. Crackles that come and go while the level is fine usually point to a loose jack or a USB port with a poor connection. Try another port, and test the mic on its own with the headset mic test.

Others hear noise, echo or a robotic voice

• Noise: if your voice is less than 20 dB above the room, close the window, switch off fans, and raise Zoom's background noise suppression to High.
• Echo: your speakers feed back into your mic. This test notes when your mic can hear your own speakers. Wear headphones, and never join one meeting with audio on two devices in the same room.
• Robotic or thin voice: Bluetooth headsets switch to a low quality call mode while their mic is on. Keep the headset for listening and use the laptop or a USB mic.

You hear nothing, or only one side

When neither sound played, Zoom is probably not the problem: the computer is sending sound to another output, often a monitor on HDMI. Choose your headset under Settings, System, Sound, Output on Windows or System Settings, Sound, Output on a Mac, then pick the same speaker in Zoom. One silent side points to a plug that is not fully in or a balance setting. The left right audio test checks each channel on its own.

What a browser mic test cannot check

The page measures the mic before Zoom's own processing. Zoom removes steady noise and can even out your level, so the real call usually sounds cleaner than the raw clip. Call filters gets you closer to Zoom, but each app filters in its own way. The page cannot test your connection or what the other people's speakers do. To check the Zoom app itself, join its test meeting at zoom.us/test, which the zoom test page explains step by step. Teams users can run the same check from the teams mic test page.

This test is independent and not affiliated with Zoom, Microsoft or Google. Their product names are used only to describe what the test works with.

Zoom mic test questions