Mic test

How to test your microphone

1. Press Start microphone test and choose Allow when your browser asks.
2. Talk normally or count to ten. The bar jumps with your voice, the big number shows your level in dBFS, and the verdict line says Your microphone works once we hear you.
3. Press Record 5 s (or pick 10 or 30 seconds), say a sentence, and play it back. That is how you hear yourself the way other people hear you.

Several microphones? Pick one in the Microphone list; we remember your choice in this browser. Stop releases the mic, and the test also stops after a minute in a background tab.

What the numbers mean

Level in dBFS

dBFS means decibels relative to full scale. 0 dBFS is the loudest signal a digital system can hold, so every real reading is negative. In this meter a full-scale sine tone reads −3.0 dBFS, because we show the average (RMS) level, not the tip of each wave.

• Below −60 dBFS: room noise, or a muted or distant mic.
• −40 to −30 dBFS: quiet. Usable, but others may ask you to speak up.
• −30 to −12 dBFS: a comfortable speaking level. −18 dBFS is a healthy target for calls and voice recordings.
• Above −10 dBFS: loud; shouts may clip.

Peak and clip

Peak holds the loudest moment of the last second and a half so you can read it. The Clip lamp lights when a sample hits the very top of the scale. Clipped sound crackles and can’t be repaired later, so lower the input gain if it lights while you talk normally.

Noise floor

Press Noise floor and stay quiet for 3 seconds. We take the middle value (the median) of the level during that time, so one cough or click does not spoil it.

• Under −60 dBFS: a very quiet room or mic. Great for calls and recording.
• −60 to −45 dBFS: normal for a room with a computer running.
• Above −45 dBFS: a noisy room or high input gain. Move away from fans or turn the gain down.

The gap between your speaking level and your noise floor is what listeners care about. Speech at −18 dBFS over a floor of −65 dBFS sounds clean; speech at −35 over a floor of −45 sounds like a busy café.

Device, sample rate, channels, latency

The chips under the meter show the device name, the sample rate (usually 44.1 or 48 kHz, plenty for speech), channels (stereo mics get separate L and R meters), whether processing is on, and the browser’s own audio latency where it reports one.

Waveform and spectrum

Waveform draws the sound itself; Spectrum spreads it by pitch from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. A steady spike at 50 or 60 Hz (the mains frequency) means electrical hum, often from a ground loop.

Raw vs processed sound

By default this test shows your microphone raw: echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain are off, so you see what the hardware really delivers.

Zoom, Teams, Meet and Discord switch that processing on. Choose Processed (like Zoom/Discord) and the browser cleans the sound the way those apps do:

• Automatic gain lifts a quiet mic and tames a loud one.
• Noise suppression removes steady noise, but voices can sound thin or "underwater".
• Echo cancellation removes speaker sound that leaks back into the mic.

Fine raw but robotic in a call? The processing is often the cause, not the microphone.

Mic not working? Quick checklist

"We get silence from this device" means nothing above −80 dBFS for 5 seconds: the mic is muted, unplugged, or the wrong one is selected. "Microphone access is blocked" means the browser or system said no; the card shows the fix. "The device is busy" means another app holds the mic.

Windows 11 and 10

• Open Settings › System › Sound and check that your mic is the input device and its volume is not at 0.
• Open Settings › Privacy & security › Microphone (Windows 10: Settings › Privacy › Microphone) and allow apps and desktop apps to use it.
• Laptops often have a mic mute key (a mic with a slash) in the F-key row.
• Step by step: Microphone not working on Windows.

Mac

• System Settings › Sound › Input: pick the mic and watch its input level as you speak.
• System Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone: switch on your browser, then quit and reopen it.
• More: Microphone not working on a Mac.

iPhone and iPad

• In Safari, tap aA › Website Settings and set Microphone to Allow.
• Check that the case doesn’t cover the bottom mic and no Bluetooth headset has taken over.
• More: iPhone microphone not working.

Android

• Pull down the quick settings and make sure Microphone access is on (Android 12 and later).
• Settings › Apps › Chrome › Permissions › Microphone: allow it.
• More: Android microphone not working.

Browser and apps

• Blocked once? The browser remembers: allow the microphone in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
• Works here but not in a call: mic and camera in Zoom, Teams, Discord and Meet.

Headset and laptop mics

Headsets: pick the headset by name in the Microphone list, not "Default", and check the mute switch on the cable or ear cup. Bluetooth headsets switch to a call mode while the mic is open, so your voice and the sound in your ears drop to phone quality. That is normal for Bluetooth; a wired or USB headset avoids it.

Laptop mics sit far from your mouth, next to the fan and keyboard: expect a lower level and a higher noise floor than with a headset. Some laptops filter noise in the driver, which shows even in Raw mode. If the level stays low, raise the input volume in your system settings.

Mics with a gain knob: set it so normal speech never lights Clip. Condenser mics on an audio interface need 48 V phantom power, or you get silence.

Testing a call setup? The webcam and mic test checks camera, mic and lighting together, and the speaker test checks left and right in your headphones.

Privacy

The mic test runs entirely in your browser. Your voice is measured on your device and never uploaded. A recording stays in this tab’s memory until you download it or reload the page. Stop releases the microphone, so your system’s mic indicator turns off. Every number is explained in how to read your test results; more tools, such as the webcam test, are under device tests.