Microphone & Speaker Test

How it works

1. Turn Your Volume Down First. This test plays tones through your speakers — turn your system volume down before you start, especially on headphones.
2. Allow Microphone Access. Click Allow microphone and grant permission when your browser asks; the stream is processed locally and never leaves your device.
3. Speak Normally and Watch the Level. Talk at your normal volume and watch the meter — you're aiming for a level that sits comfortably in the middle, not pinned to the top.
4. Test Left, Then Right. Play the left channel and note which side you actually heard it from, then do the same for right.
5. Run the Frequency Sweep. Play the sweep to listen across the audible range for buzzing, rattling, or a dead spot at either end.
6. Record and Play Yourself Back. Once both halves have a result, record a few seconds and play it back through your speakers to close the loop.

How to Test a Microphone in Your Browser

This test uses the Web Audio API to analyze your microphone's input directly in your browser — no download, no app, and no signup. Click Allow microphone, grant the permission prompt, and start talking; the level meter responds within a fraction of a second.

• Nothing is uploaded, transmitted, or recorded to any server — the stream is analyzed locally and discarded when you leave the page.
• If you have more than one microphone, a device picker lets you choose which one to test — device names only appear after you grant permission.
• The meter keeps working as long as the tab stays open and visible; it releases the microphone automatically if you switch away.

Reading the Level Meter: dBFS, Peak, RMS, and Clipping

The meter reports level in dBFS (decibels relative to full scale), where 0 dBFS is the loudest a digital signal can go before it distorts. Everything on this meter is negative — the closer to 0, the louder.

• Peak: the single loudest sample in the last moment — spikes on plosives (p, b) and sudden sounds.
• Average (RMS): a smoothed sense of your typical speaking level — the number that matters most for "is my mic loud enough".
• Target range: roughly -24 to -9 dBFS while speaking normally is a healthy range for most calling and recording apps.
• Clipping: when a signal is pushed past 0 dBFS, the peaks get chopped flat — this is permanent, audible distortion, not just "loud". Louder is not better once you're clipping.

Why Your Microphone Sounds Quiet, Muffled, or Distorted

A mic that tests as "working" can still sound bad for reasons that have nothing to do with the hardware being broken.

• Gain staging: your OS or app's input gain (sometimes called "microphone boost") set too low or too high is the single most common cause of a quiet or distorted mic.
• Distance and off-axis positioning: most laptop and headset mics are directional — speaking too far away, or to the side of the mic rather than into it, thins out the sound.
• Plosives: a "p" or "b" sound aimed straight at the mic causes a burst of low-frequency wind noise; angling the mic slightly off-axis fixes this without a pop filter.
• Laptop array mics vs. headset mics: built-in laptop microphones apply aggressive noise suppression that can make a voice sound processed or muffled — a headset or USB mic is closer to the source and needs less processing.
• Connection type: USB mics carry a clean digital signal; 3.5mm TRRS jacks are more prone to interference and a loose connection; Bluetooth mics drop audio quality sharply the moment the microphone is active (see below).

Speaker and Headphone Faults This Test Finds

• Dead channel: nothing plays from one side at all.
• Swapped left/right: audio panned left plays from the right speaker, or vice versa — surprisingly common with a mislabeled cable or dock.
• Mono downmix: a system-level setting is combining both channels into one, so "left" and "right" sound identical from both sides.
• Buzzing or rattling on the low end of the sweep: often a loose speaker mount, a blown driver, or something physically vibrating against the enclosure.
• A dead spot at the high end of the sweep: age-related driver wear, or simply the top of your hearing range — this is normal above roughly 15-17kHz for most adults.
• Intermittent cutting out: usually a loose jack or a failing Bluetooth connection, not the speaker itself.

Bluetooth Headsets: Why Using the Mic Ruins the Sound

If music sounds noticeably worse the instant you join a call or start this microphone test, that's not a fault — it's how Bluetooth audio profiles work.

A Bluetooth headset streams music using A2DP, a high-bandwidth profile built for audio quality alone. The moment its microphone is needed, most headsets switch to HFP or HSP, a much lower-bandwidth profile built to carry a phone call both ways at once. Sound quality on both sides drops sharply the instant the mic turns on — that trade-off is built into the Bluetooth standard, not a defect in your headset.

• Use a wired connection instead when audio quality matters and you also need the microphone.
• Some newer earbuds support Bluetooth LE Audio, which can carry better-quality two-way audio — check whether your headset and device both support it.
• If you only need to listen (no mic), the headset stays on the high-quality A2DP profile the whole time.

Fixing It: Per-OS and Per-Browser Steps

Windows

Settings → System → Sound → Input, check the input volume and "microphone boost" level, and confirm no other app has exclusive control of the device (Settings → Sound → More sound settings → Recording → device Properties → Advanced, uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control"). "Listen to this device" under the same Properties dialog lets you hear your own mic live, useful for isolating whether an issue is the mic or your headphones.

macOS

System Settings → Sound → Input, select the correct device and check the input level responds when you speak. If a specific app has no sound, check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and confirm your browser is allowed.

Android and iOS

Check your browser has microphone permission in the system app-permissions settings, and check no other app is holding the microphone in the background.

"Another app is using your microphone"

Extremely common with Teams, Discord, Zoom, or any app that keeps a background process running after you close its window — check your system tray or open-app list and fully quit it, not just close the window.

Resetting a site's permission

If you accidentally denied microphone access, click the padlock or site-info icon in your address bar, find Microphone in the permissions list, and change it to Allow, then reload the page.

Safe Listening: Why This Test Starts Quiet

Your ear isn't equally sensitive across the audible range — it's most sensitive between roughly 2 and 5kHz. A tone or sweep played at a constant volume level doesn't sound like constant loudness; that band sounds noticeably louder than the low and high ends of the sweep. This page compensates for that automatically, but the safest thing you can do is turn your system volume down before starting, especially on headphones.

Frequently asked questions