Mic Test (Microphone Test Online)

How to test your microphone

Press Start mic test and allow microphone access. Nothing to install, and it works the same on a desktop, laptop or phone.

• Say “testing, one, two” in your normal voice for a few seconds. If the bar and waveform move, sound is coming in.
• If you have several microphones (built-in, webcam, headset, USB), choose one from the list next to the Start button. Your choice is remembered.
• Press Record to capture 5 or 10 seconds; it plays back automatically so you hear what others hear.
• The Automatic check rates signal, voice level, background noise and clipping as Good, Check or Problem.
• Switch to Spectrum to see where the sound energy sits — handy for spotting low hum or high-pitched whine.

Reading the results (dBFS)

Levels are shown in dBFS — decibels relative to the loudest signal the input can capture (0 dBFS). Quieter sounds are negative numbers such as -20 or -40. This is not the same as room loudness in dB SPL; for that, use the decibel meter.

The tool logs the level every 50 ms and analyses the last 15 seconds. The quiet end (10th percentile) is the noise floor; clearly louder blocks count as speech, and the loud end of those (90th percentile) is your voice level. The thresholds below are practical guides for calls and recordings.

• Voice level: -38 dBFS or louder is good, -38 to -50 is a bit quiet, below that is very quiet. Above -8 dBFS risks distortion.
• Background noise: below -60 dBFS is quiet, -60 to -45 is noticeable, louder than that will likely be heard by others.
• Clipping: the signal hit the digital maximum and the top of the waveform was cut off, which sounds crackly. Clipped blocks are drawn in red.
• No signal: continuous digital silence points to a hardware mute, OS-level microphone block or the wrong device. On Android 12+, turning off Microphone access sends silence to apps.

Compare echo cancellation, noise suppression and auto gain

Browsers and call apps process your mic before sending it. Echo cancellation removes the other person’s voice coming back from your speakers, noise suppression reduces fans and keyboards, and auto gain raises a quiet voice and tames a loud one.

Toggle each one here and record a take after every change. Each take is labelled with its settings, so you can compare up to three side by side and save any of them.

Turning all three off reveals the raw sound of the microphone itself. Some browsers, notably Safari, cannot change every setting; those boxes are disabled with a note.

If your microphone is too quiet

If the voice level says quiet, adjust in this order and record again.

• Distance: level drops quickly as you move away. With a laptop mic, lean in a little.
• Windows: Settings > System > Sound, select the mic and raise Input volume.
• Mac: System Settings > Sound, Input, raise the input volume slider.
• Turn on auto gain to let the browser boost a quiet voice, or turn it off and set the input volume by hand if the level pumps up and down.
• Too much input volume raises noise and causes clipping. Aim for “Good” voice level with “No clipping”.

Works here but not in Discord or Zoom?

Then the microphone and OS are fine; the app is probably using a different input or a strict sensitivity setting.

• Discord: User Settings > Voice & Video — set the input device to your actual mic instead of Default and run the mic test. If speech does not trigger, turn off automatic input sensitivity and lower the slider.
• Zoom: Settings > Audio — choose the microphone and use Test Mic.
• Windows desktop apps: if the browser works but an installed app does not, check Let desktop apps access your microphone.
• Some setups allow only one app at a time. Press Stop here or close the tab when you are done.