Microphone Test

How to test your microphone

1. Press Start microphone and allow access when your browser asks.
2. Speak normally. The Input level meter and the waveform should move with your voice.
3. If you have several inputs (headset, webcam mic, USB mic), choose one in the Microphone list. The meter switches to it straight away.
4. To hear how you sound, pick a Length (5 or 10 seconds) and press Record. Talk until the countdown ends.
5. Press Play recording to listen through your speakers or headphones. Download saves the clip if you want to keep it.
6. Press Stop microphone when you’re done.

Reading the level meter

The meter shows the loudness of the signal in dBFS (decibels relative to full scale). 0 dBFS is the loudest value a digital signal can hold; everything below is negative. The bar covers −60 to 0 dB, and a thin line marks the recent Peak, held for a second before it falls back.

As a rule of thumb for speech:

• Around −60 to −45 dB: background noise only, or a mic that is too far or turned down.
• Around −30 to −12 dB: a healthy level for normal speech.
• Close to 0 dB: too loud. If Clipping! appears, the signal hit full scale and is being distorted. Lower the input gain in your system sound settings or move back from the mic.

The Level figure is the RMS (average) level of the last few hundredths of a second, which follows perceived loudness better than the peak does. Sample rate and Channels show the format the browser receives, typically 48,000 Hz, mono.

If the mic is on but the meter stays flat for a few seconds, the tool tells you so. The usual causes are a hardware mute switch, an input volume at zero, or the wrong device selected.

Echo cancellation and noise suppression

Browsers can clean up the microphone signal for calls. By default this tool turns that processing off, so you see and hear the raw signal from your mic. Tick Echo cancellation and noise suppression to hear what a video call app would typically send: quieter background, sometimes a slightly “underwater” voice. Comparing the two recordings is a quick way to judge a headset.

Privacy: nothing is uploaded

All the analysis happens in your browser with the Web Audio API. The recording is kept in this tab’s memory only. It is never sent to a server, and it is deleted when you leave or reload the page. Stopping the microphone releases the device, so your system’s microphone indicator turns off.