Is your mic working? Test your microphone live, free.
Device
- Microphone name
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- Sample rate
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- Channels
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- Sample size
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- Estimated latency
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Live measurements
- Peak level
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- Average level (RMS)
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- Noise floor
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- Dynamic range
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- Background noise peak
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- Hum prominence
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Common microphone problems
Pick the situation that matches yours. Each guide takes under five minutes.
Fix it in your app
App-specific walkthroughs for the most common conferencing tools.
Mic not working in Zoom
Permissions, the device picker, and Zoom's noise suppression.
Mic not working in Google Meet
Browser permissions and the in-call device selector.
Mic not working in Microsoft Teams
The Teams test call, audio devices, and cache reset.
Mic not working in Discord
Reset Voice Settings, the auto-sensitivity trap, push-to-talk, and the audio subsystem switch.
Fix it on your system
Walkthroughs for the operating system itself — useful when no app can see the mic.
Fix microphone on Windows
Privacy settings, drivers, the audio service, and the troubleshooter.
Fix microphone on Mac
Privacy permissions, Core Audio restart, and per-app gating.
Why is my microphone so quiet?
Input gain, mic placement, and the Microphone Boost setting.
AirPods and Bluetooth mic problems
Why your AirPods sound great for music and terrible on calls — and the actual fix.
Browser microphone permission blocked
Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Firefox, Safari — what to click to unblock the mic.
Need the full guide?
Step-by-step troubleshooting that works on any system, in the order that fixes the most cases first.
Open the troubleshooting guideWhat this microphone test does
fixmic captures audio from your microphone for a few seconds and analyses four things at once: peak level (are you too loud?), background noise (is your room too loud?), signal strength (are you too quiet?), and electrical hum (is a mains buzz riding on your signal?). The result is not just a bar that moves — it's a plain-language summary of exactly what is wrong, and what to do about it.
How to test your microphone
Click Start test
Your browser will ask permission to use the microphone. Click Allow. Nothing leaves your computer — the audio is processed locally.
Speak normally for about 10 seconds
Read a sentence aloud at your normal volume and distance, keeping going until the counter reaches zero. The level meter will move and the waveform will draw.
Read the diagnostic
Once the countdown finishes the tool shows you any problems it found, with a one-line fix for each.
Click Test speakers (optional)
A short 440 Hz tone plays. If you hear it clearly, your output is fine and any communication problem is on the mic side.
What the numbers mean
Open "Show technical details" under the test and you get the raw measurements behind the verdict. Here is what each reading is, the range we treat as healthy, and what to do when yours falls outside it.
Peak level
The loudest single instant of your voice, on the digital scale where 0 dBFS is the maximum the device can record.
- Healthy range
- -20 to -3 dBFS
- If it falls outside
- Below -20 dBFS we flag it as too quiet: raise the input level in your system sound settings, or move closer. Above -3 dBFS you are close to distortion — turn the input level down.
Average level (RMS)
Your typical speaking level across the whole test, rather than one loud peak. Peaks tell you about distortion; RMS tells you how loud you actually are.
- Healthy range
- No fixed target — what matters is its distance from the noise floor
- If it falls outside
- When RMS sits close to the noise floor, your voice does not stand out from the room, however loud the peaks look.
Noise floor
How loud your room is when nobody is speaking. We average the quietest 20% of frames in a rolling six-second window, so continuous talking cannot inflate it.
- Healthy range
- -50 dBFS or lower
- If it falls outside
- Above -50 dBFS points at a fan, air conditioning, or an input level set too high. Below -78 dBFS the room is not that quiet — the device is applying its own noise suppression, and that same processing often swallows the start of your words.
Dynamic range
Your average level minus the noise floor — your signal-to-noise ratio. This single number is what the overall grade is based on.
- Healthy range
- 18 dB and above
- If it falls outside
- Below 12 dB we flag it. Move closer to the microphone or remove the noise source; raising the input level lifts your voice and the noise together and changes nothing.
Background noise peak
The loudest single frequency measured while you stay silent.
- Healthy range
- No sharp peak — a smooth spread across frequencies
- If it falls outside
- A sharp peak between 90 and 200 Hz is mains hum, the harmonics of your 50 Hz or 60 Hz power. A peak below 250 Hz is usually rumble from a fan, a desk, or a hard drive.
Hum prominence
How far that peak sticks out above the broadband noise around it. Shown out of 32 — the point where a hum stops being background and becomes audible, roughly 8.6 dB of prominence.
- Healthy range
- Under 32
- If it falls outside
- Over 32 is electrical hum. Try a different USB port, unplug the charger, and move the microphone away from power supplies and screens.
Sample rate
How many samples per second the browser's audio engine is running at — normally the rate your device is delivering.
- Healthy range
- 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz
- If it falls outside
- 16 kHz or 8 kHz usually means a Bluetooth headset has switched into hands-free mode (HFP) to open the microphone: mono and muffled by design. Newer LE Audio headsets keep a much wider band with the mic open. For a call that matters, use the wired or USB input instead.
Estimated latency
The delay the browser reports between sound reaching the device and the audio arriving in the page.
- Healthy range
- A few milliseconds on wired and USB inputs
- If it falls outside
- Bluetooth adds far more. It does not hurt a recording, but it is what makes live monitoring and in-game voice feel out of sync with your own mouth.
How the grade is calculated
The badge at the top of your result comes from the dynamic range figure above — your voice level minus your noise floor.
- Excellent25 dB and above
- Your voice sits far above the room. Nothing to fix.
- Good18 to 25 dB
- Clean enough for any call or recording, with a little background noise present.
- Fair10 to 18 dB
- Usable, but the background is noticeable behind you.
- PoorBelow 10 dB
- The noise is loud enough to distract whoever is listening.
We grade on the ratio rather than on absolute loudness, because absolute level depends entirely on your gain setting — turn the gain up and your voice and the room noise rise together. A showstopper finding (no signal, a signal too faint to use, or clipping) overrides the ratio and grades the test Poor on its own.
What you need to run the test
Almost nothing. fixmic runs in the browser with no installer, no plugin, no Flash, and no Java. If you can read this page, you can probably run the test. You need a modern browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge from the last two years — and a microphone (built-in, USB, XLR through an interface, Bluetooth, or a wireless headset all work). The browser will ask permission to use the mic when you click Start test, and it will only allow it over HTTPS, which is on by default. Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android are all supported, including phones and tablets.
Is this microphone test safe?
Yes — your audio is safe. The microphone test runs entirely in your browser using the Web Audio API. Your audio never reaches any server, including ours, and even we cannot listen to anything you say into the mic. When you close the tab or click stop, the microphone is released immediately. No account, no signup. The site plans to add display ads from Google AdSense to cover hosting costs; when that goes live, those ads will run in an isolated context with no access to your microphone, your diagnostic results, or any audio data — and we will update this notice.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does my browser ask for microphone permission?
- Every modern browser requires explicit permission before any website can access the microphone. The permission is granted per-site and per-browser, and you can revoke it any time from the lock icon in the address bar.
- Why is my mic showing as 'too quiet' even though I'm speaking normally?
- Your input gain is probably set too low in your operating system. On Windows: Sound settings → Input → Input volume. On macOS: System Settings → Sound → Input → Input Volume. Slide it up and run the test again.
- What does 'clipping' mean?
- Clipping happens when your microphone signal is too loud — louder than the maximum the device can represent. The result sounds harsh and distorted. Lower your input volume or move further from the mic.
- Why does my room sound echoey?
- Hard surfaces (bare walls, glass, hardwood floors) reflect sound. Add a rug, curtains, or upholstered furniture, or record closer to the mic so your voice dominates the reflections.
- Does this work on a phone?
- Yes — on both iPhone and Android. Use Chrome or Safari. The browser will ask permission to use the mic, just like on a computer. The test works the same way.
- Why does my mic work here but not in Zoom / Teams / Meet?
- Conferencing apps add their own processing on top of the raw microphone signal — noise suppression, auto-gain, and echo cancellation. If our test works but Zoom does not, the problem is in the app's settings. See the app-specific guides above.
- Can I test a headset or headphones microphone?
- Yes. A headset microphone is just another input — open the device picker above, select your headset, and run the test. Plain headphones with no mic won't appear as an input, but you can still check their earpieces with the speaker test. To test both sides of a headset, run the mic test, then use Test speakers and Hear yourself live.
- How do I know if my microphone is working?
- Watch the level meter while you speak — if it moves, the mic is picking up sound. When the countdown ends, fixmic plays your recording back and tells you in plain language whether it's working cleanly or running too quiet, clipping, or noisy.
- Can I hear myself live (loopback monitoring)?
- Yes. After the test, click Hear yourself live and your microphone is routed to your speakers or headphones in real time. Wear headphones for this — on open speakers the mic re-records the playback and you'll hear an echo or a screech.
- How do I test my microphone on a PC?
- Just click Start test at the top of the page and talk for a few seconds — the test runs right in your browser, with nothing to install. It works on any computer: Windows, Mac, or Linux, on both desktops and laptops. If you have more than one microphone connected (built-in, USB, or a headset), pick the right one from the device selector above the button.
- How do I test a microphone on Windows 10 or Windows 11?
- Exactly the same way — click Start test and allow the microphone permission your browser asks for. If Windows is blocking access, open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and make sure microphone access and access for your browser are both turned on. For a full walkthrough of permissions, drivers, and the audio service on Windows, see the Fix microphone on Windows guide above.
- My computer doesn't detect my microphone — what do I do?
- If the microphone doesn't appear in the device selector or your system doesn't recognize it: make sure it's firmly plugged in (try another USB port), check that microphone access is enabled in your operating system's privacy settings, and update or reinstall your sound card driver. On Windows you can also run the audio troubleshooter. The Fix microphone on Windows and Mac guides above explain each step.