Mic Test

How to test your mic

Click Start test, let your browser use the microphone, and talk in your normal voice. The sound wave shows right away whether the mic is picking you up: it moves when you speak and flattens into a line when you stop. The level bar shows how loud the signal is on average, and the red marker holds the highest peak. As soon as the test hears you, it says so in green. If you’re too quiet, or so loud that your voice distorts, it tells you that too.

Got more than one mic, like a headset and the one built into your laptop? Pick the one you want from the list and the test restarts with it.

Hear how you sound: mic test with playback

The wave proves that your mic picks up sound, but not what it sounds like. Choose a length (3, 5, or 10 seconds) and click Record & listen. The clip plays as soon as it’s recorded, so you can hear whether you’re too quiet, whether there’s hiss or hum in the background, and whether your headset makes you sound like you’re talking from inside a tunnel. You can stop the recording early with the same button.

You hear the clip after it’s recorded, not live, and that’s on purpose: listening to yourself in real time through speakers turns into a squealing feedback loop. Want to keep the clip, or send it to someone to compare? Download clip saves it as an audio file (WebM or M4A, depending on your browser), straight from the page.

Is your mic too quiet or too loud?

For normal speech, a level of roughly 20–60% is about right, with peaks that stay clear of the end of the bar. If the test says your mic is quiet, get closer (about a hand’s width from your mouth suits most USB and desk mics; on a headset, bring the boom toward the corner of your mouth) and turn up the input volume in your system’s sound settings. On Windows, that’s Settings → System → Sound → Input; on a Mac, System Settings → Sound → Input.

If it says your mic is clipping, the signal is hitting the top of the scale. Other people will hear you as distorted and crackly, so turn the input volume or the gain knob down a notch, or lean back a little. Then record a new clip and compare.

Mic not working? Common causes and fixes

If the wave stays flat or the test shows an error, work through this list. Most problems turn out to be one of the first three.

1. The browser is blocked. Click the site settings icon at the left end of the address bar, set Microphone to Allow, and reload the page. On an iPhone, go to Settings → Apps → Safari → Microphone; on Android, Settings → Apps → Chrome → Permissions → Microphone.
2. Your computer is blocking the browser. On Windows 11, open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and make sure Microphone access is on, along with Let desktop apps access your microphone further down, which covers Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. On Windows 10, it’s Settings → Privacy → Microphone. On a Mac, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone, switch your browser on, then quit and reopen it.
3. The wrong mic is selected. Laptops love to listen through the built-in mic while your headset sits there unused. Pick the right one in the list above, and check that it’s also your system’s default input and that its volume isn’t at zero.
4. It’s muted. Headsets often have a mute switch on the cable or a button on the ear cup, and USB mics may have a mute button or a gain knob turned all the way down.
5. Another app is using it. Zoom, Teams, Discord, or OBS can hold on to the mic. Close them and run the test again.
6. Bluetooth headsets and AirPods. A Bluetooth mic only works in headset (hands-free) mode. If your computer connected the earbuds for music only, you’ll hear sound but the mic stays silent, so disconnect and reconnect them, or pick the headset or hands-free entry in the list. In this mode everything sounds thinner than music does. That’s normal for Bluetooth, not a broken mic.

Test your mic before a Zoom, Teams, Meet, or Discord call

The worst time to find out your mic isn’t working is when the meeting has already started. This online mic test checks it first: no call, no account, nothing to install. If it works here, the only thing left is to make sure the call app is using the same mic. In Zoom, it’s Settings → Audio → Microphone; in Microsoft Teams, Settings → Devices → Microphone; in Google Meet, ⋮ → Settings → Audio; and in Discord, User Settings → Voice & Video → Input Device.

If people tell you you’re hard to hear, turn up the input volume in your system settings, record a new clip here, and compare the two.

Works on iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows

The test runs in any up-to-date browser, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, on a computer, a phone, or a tablet. On a phone it tests the built-in mic or whatever headset you’ve plugged in or paired. A few tips:

• iPhone and iPad: Safari asks for permission every time unless you set the site to Allow. If the clip is hard to hear, turn the volume up and check that silent mode is off.
• Android: if Chrome never asks, the permission was denied earlier. Turn it back on in the site settings (the icon next to the address) or in the Android app settings.
• Mac: the first time a browser wants the mic, macOS asks too. If you clicked Don’t Allow, fix it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
• Windows: besides the privacy settings above, check Settings → System → Sound → Input. Your mic should show up there. If it doesn’t, open All sound devices on the same page and make sure it’s set to Allow.

What the test shows, and why it’s private

Once the test is running, the panel under the meter shows your mic’s name, the number of channels (most mics are mono, and that’s normal), the sample rate (usually 44.1 or 48 kHz), and whether your browser applies noise suppression.

All of it runs on the Web Audio API right in your browser. The sound isn’t sent anywhere or stored. The playback clip lives only in this page’s memory unless you download it. And the moment you stop the test, the mic is released and the recording indicator in your browser goes out.