Home / Microphone test / Testing Microphone
Microphone testTesting Microphone
A live microphone test that runs entirely in your browser. Level meter, oscilloscope, spectrum, recorder and playback — no download, no account, nothing uploaded.
Testing a microphone properly takes about thirty seconds. Watch the live meter for level, look at the waveform for distortion, then record a sentence and play it back to hear what listeners actually get.
Testing Microphone: step by step
- 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 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.
- 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 order to change things in
Position first, gain second, processing last. Moving from 60 cm to 20 cm raises your voice by roughly 10 dB while leaving the room noise exactly where it was — an improvement no software setting can match.
Gain comes next because it lifts your voice and the room together; it fixes quiet, never unclear. Processing comes last because every effect works on whatever the first two decisions produced. Applied to a good signal it is subtle and useful. Applied to a distant voice in a noisy room it has to remove so much that it damages the voice too.
Questions people ask
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.
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.
What is a good level?
Peaks between -12 dB and -6 dB, with a noise floor below -50 dB. That gives clean headroom without clipping.
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.
Related tests
If that was not it, try: the full microphone test, a plain browser mic test, or the main test console.
Tested and updated · Written and maintained by check-mic.com · Report a problem with this page