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Microphone testCheck Mic
A live microphone test that runs entirely in your browser. Level meter, oscilloscope, spectrum, recorder and playback — no download, no account, nothing uploaded.
To check a mic, start the test above and speak a full sentence. If the meter moves and your recording plays back clearly, the microphone is fine and any remaining problem lives inside the app you were using.
Check Mic — how to do it
- Pick the right input
Open the device list at the top of the console. Every microphone the system can see is listed by name. Choose the one you actually intend to use — the default is often a webcam or a virtual cable.
- Press Start test and allow access
The browser shows a permission prompt. Choose Allow. Nothing is recorded until you press Record, and even then the audio stays on your machine.
- Speak at your normal distance
Say a full sentence at conversational volume, sitting where you normally sit. The meter should swing between -24 dB and -6 dB. A flat meter means no signal is arriving.
- Check the waveform for damage
Open the Waveform panel. A healthy voice looks like rounded peaks with space above and below. Flat tops touching the edges mean the signal is clipping and words will sound crunchy.
- Record and play it back
Levels can look perfect while the audio sounds terrible. Record five seconds, play it back, and listen for hiss, hum, echo and keyboard noise.
- Read the report
The Report panel names the device, its sample rate and channel count, whether echo cancellation and auto gain are active, and gives a plain verdict you can copy into a support ticket.
If the meter does not move
- The operating system muted the inputOpen your sound settings and confirm the input volume is not at zero and the device is not disabled. A muted input produces a perfectly flat meter with no error message.
- The wrong device is selectedChange the input in the dropdown and the test restarts automatically. Laptops frequently default to a webcam mic rather than a plugged-in headset.
- Something else has the microphoneZoom, Teams, Discord, OBS and Camera apps can hold an input exclusively. Quit them completely, including from the system tray, and try again.
- A hardware mute is engagedMany headsets mute when the boom is rotated up, and most USB mics have a mute button that stays lit. Check the physical control before touching any software.
Why a browser test beats the built-in one
Windows reports microphone activity as a moving bar and macOS as a row of dots. Neither tells you the one thing that decides whether people can understand you: the distance in decibels between your voice and the room behind it.
A browser test also sits at the same point in the audio chain as Zoom, Meet, Teams and Discord. When it hears you clearly, every layer beneath it — capsule, cable, driver, operating system routing, privacy permission — has already been proven to work, and the only place left to look is the settings of the app that failed.
Common questions
Is my audio uploaded anywhere?
No. The test uses the Web Audio API inside your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, and recordings live in memory until you close the tab or download them yourself.
Why does the browser ask for permission every time?
Some browsers only remember the choice for the session, and private or incognito windows always forget it. Allowing the site in your browser's site settings makes the choice permanent.
The test works but people still cannot hear me
Then the microphone is fine and the app is not. Open that app's audio settings and select the same device you chose here.
Does this work on a phone?
Yes. Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS both support the test, though iOS restricts which of the phone's microphones a browser can reach.
Related tests
Carry on with: setting up monitoring, the main test console, or the full microphone test.
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